‘Strictly’ race row: Nearly 300 complaints

The ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ race row shows no signs of waning after the number of viewers complaining hit nearly 300, that�۪s four times the initial amount.

The BBC show came underfire on Sunday when the News Of The World revealed that Anton Du Beke had called his dance partner, Laila Rouass, a “Paki”.

The rise in complaints comes as anti-fascist group Hope Not Hate called on the corporation to take action over the dancer’s comments, asking: “Quite simply the programme has to ask itself, is it going to condone racism on its show or is it going to deal with it quickly and decisively?”

A spokesman for Hope Not Hate, a campaign group run by the anti-fascist magazine Searchlight, asked: “If calling someone a Paki is not racist behaviour then what is?”

The BBC was forced to defend its decision not to drop Du Beke from-the popular weekend show today after the remarks emerged.