Right wingers reacted in fury today after it was revealed that the Vicar of Dibley will ‘take the knee’ and deliver a sermon about Black Lives Matter when the show returns for a Christmas special.
Former UKIP leader Gerard Batten joined a chorus of discontent over news that Reverend Geraldine Kennedy, played by Dawn French, will mention the killing of George Floyd and call out racism in the show’s new episodes.
The vicar will acknowledge that Dibley, a fictional rural village in Oxfordshire, could certainly be more diverse, saying: “I don’t think it matters where you’re from. I think it matters that you do something about it because Jesus would, wouldn’t he?”
She continues: “Until all lives matter the same, we are doing something very wrong.”
“We need to focus on justice for a huge chunk of our countrymen and women who seem to have a very bad, weird deal from the day they’re born.”
She then makes a reference to taking down old notices in the village, which could be a nod to taking down statues with links to slavery, saying:
“I think that in Dibley perhaps we should think about taking down some of these old notices like this and that and perhaps we should put up one like this instead.”
She then puts a home-made Black Lives Matter poster to the church noticeboard before taking the knee in the style of NFL footballers in the US.
Many people have supported the moves, but others were less happy.
Laurence Fox, who has courted controversy several times this year, was one of the first to respond, tweeting that the BBC’s “virtuous false enlightenment allows them to ignore the charter to educate the great unwashed”.
A sermon from the high altar of the church of moral superiority, the @bbc
— Laurence Fox (@LozzaFox) December 6, 2020
This virtuous false enlightenment allows them to ignore the charter to educate the great unwashed.
Do your job!#DefundTheBBC https://t.co/eBDTAhvVaD
Several others were quick to jump on, with the march to “defund the BBC” picking up support.
Want even more reasons Not to watch the BBC?!
— President -Elect Daz Hunter (@darrenhunter2) December 6, 2020
Vicar of Dibley to take a knee…
You couldn’t make it up. pic.twitter.com/9fDXuGGXHt
But former UKIP leader Batten’s response was a pick of the bunch. Feel the rage, below!
Please retweet this.
— Gerard Batten (@GerardBattenUK) December 6, 2020
Dawn French, the BBC’s Vicar of Dibley wears an upside down cross.
This is a symbol of Satanism.
This isn’t a prop depart mistake.
This is what we are forced to pay the License Fee for.
DEFUND the BBC! pic.twitter.com/JW8iX5zTVm
Related: British and EU negotiators to meet in a “final throw of the dice”
