BBC bosses fear ‘Leona Lewis-type attack’ on Du Beke after Paki slur
October 17th, 2009 - 1:10 pm ICT by ANI
London, October 17 (ANI): After the attack on Leona Lewis, the BBC bosses are worried of a similar attack on ballroom dancer Anton Du Beke who made a racist statement recently on talent show Strictly Come Dancing, sources say.
The 43-year-old had enraged people with his “looked like a Paki” comment on show partner Laila Rouass earlier this month.
“The BBC is worried about things getting out of hand with the race row,” the Sun quoted a source as saying.
“There are worries that someone may try and have a go, in light of what happened to Leona this week,” the source added.
The insider added that plain-clothed security guards in the audience would be placed to stop any such unpleasant incident from happening.
The source said: “They are keen to keep things under control so their normal security team is separating into two.
“Existing security will now be placed in undercover clothes in case anything kicks off this week.
“They didn’t realise how angry the public were about it at first, and want to take precautions in case there is any sort of mob atmosphere.”
However, Du Beke has twice apologized for making the insensitive comment.
He said: “It was a stupid thing to do. I feel embarrassed. Laila has been quite remarkably wonderful.”
Meanwhile a BBC spokeswoman said: “We never discuss security matters.” (ANI)
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Tags: anton du beke, atmosphere, audience, ballroom dancer, bbc, clothes, insider, laila rouass, leona lewis, london, mob, paki, security guards, security matters, security team, slur, spokeswoman, stupid thing, sun, worries
