Lenny Henry explains Comic Relief’s progress after “white saviour” criticism

The accusations of ‘white saviour syndrome’ were made a few years ago, and Henry explains how Comic Relief took criticism onboard.

By Morgan Cormack

Published: Thursday, 14 March 2024 at 07:00 AM

Comic Relief is back for another celebration this year, with this Friday’s Red Nose Day set to be as entertaining and star-studded as ever, as people join forces to raise money.

The charity’s vision is “to live in a just world, free from poverty”, and was founded in 1985 by the scriptwriter Richard Curtis and comedian Sir Lenny Henry in response to the famine in Ethiopia in 1985.

Since then, the donation efforts of Comic Relief on Red Nose Day, as well as the BBC’s other annual events like Children in Need, have attracted criticism – with some citing a ‘white saviour syndrome’ in regards to the charity’s content.

The notion of being a ‘white saviour’ is one that centres on white people being depicted as saving, teaching or protecting their non-white counterparts, often cited in relation to international charity work and celebrity appeal videos.

Many of those accusations were made against Comic Relief a few years ago, but since then, how has the charity evolved away from depicting white celebrities in such a way?

Well, Henry chatted to Radio Times magazine and admitted that they “raise money in different ways nowadays”.

Lenny Henry wearing a dark red and black suit jacket, a white shirt and a bright red tie, standing in front of a bright red backdrop and with his mouth wide open as if shouting.
Lenny Henry.
BBC/Comic Relief/Nicky Johnston

He said: “There’s much more agency given to the people on the ground, and there’s a currency of being part of the solution that’s so much more important than somebody in a white shirt saying, ‘Here I am in Ethiopia and look at this, this is terrible.’

“Those days have sort of gone. What happens is you work with people on the ground. And Comic Relief has tried to make it so that the teams making the documentaries are more inclusive than they used to be.”

Henry continued: “It used to be BBC Bristol going to Africa to make all the films and they were all white people. It was always me and five white people and all these kids saying, ‘Hello, how are you?’ to everyone else but not say[ing] anything to me because they thought I was from there.

“And then when I did my bit to camera, they’d be like, ‘I thought that was just your uncle,’ to their friend. It was really bizarre, but it made me think that it needed to be a bit more inclusive.

“And, of course, there are places throughout the continent of Africa where there are the most brilliant filmmakers in the world. So, what we’re doing now is making every attempt to find those people.”

Read more:

The money raised is also now equally split between anti-poverty causes in the UK and those further afield throughout the world.

When asked whether that was something that Henry foresaw, he admitted: “Right now it’s about giving a leg up to people who are struggling here and everywhere else.

“I remember being in Uganda in the 1990s and there was a grain bank and a food bank, and I thought, ‘What a good thing, but this would never happen in the UK.’

“Here we are now in the 21st century and my sister runs a food bank. I went there and was astounded by the generosity of the big stores involved and the people stepping up to this problem.”

This is the last year that Henry will be hosting the Red Nose Day celebrations, with the night itself set to include sketches from The Traitors, W1A and more.