The TV historian and author has provoked a storm of controversy during a show with Conservative commentator Darren Grimes when Starkey said that slavery was not genocide because of the survival of “so many damn blacks”.
Former chancellor Sajid Javid said: “David Starkey’s racist comments are a reminder of the appalling views that still exist.”
Fitzwilliam College, part of Cambridge University, where Starkey teaches, described his remarks as “indefensible”.
“We support and promote freedom of speech in our academic community, but we have zero tolerance of racism. Dr David Starkey’s recent comments on slavery are indefensible.
The matter of Dr Starkey’s Honorary Fellowship will be considered by the Governing Body at its meeting next Wednesday.”
The Mary Rose Trust said it was “appalled” by Starkey’s comments, adding on Thursday evening they had accepted his resignation.
The comments were made on the show entitled: “Dr David Starkey: Black Lives Matter Aims To Delegitimate British History”.
In it, Starkey said: “Slavery was not genocide otherwise there wouldn’t be so many damn blacks in Africa or Britain would there? An awful lot of them survived.”
He also claimed that the Black Lives Matter protests, following the death of George Floyd, had been characterised by “violence” and “victimhood”.
He described cancel culture and the pulling down of statues as “deranged”.
Starkey said: “As for the idea that slavery is this kind of terrible disease that dare not speak its name, it only dare not speak its name, Darren, because we settled it nearly 200 years ago.”
“We don’t normally go on about the fact that Roman Catholics once upon a time didn’t have the vote and weren’t allowed to have their own churches because we had Catholic emancipation.”
Whilst Grimes tweeted out previously that Starkey was his ‘hero’ he has since distanced himself from the comments made by Dr Starkey and intimitaed it was due to a lack of interviewing experience on his part.
Grimes said in response:
“Hand on heart, I wasn’t engaged enough in this interview as I should’ve been. It goes without saying that Reasoned UK does not support or condone Dr David Starkey’s words.
I am very new to being the interviewer rather than the interviewee and I should have robustly questioned Dr Starkey about his comments.
However, whether it’s on the BBC, ITV, Sky News or on YouTube, no interviewer is responsible for the views expressed by their guests.
At Reasoned UK you’ll always find unfiltered opinions, allowing the audience to make up their own minds -that said, in future – I can promise that there will be a host who is much more willing to challenge those opinions.”
Others accused of him backing down in the face of the ‘cancel culture mob’ saying he had nothing to apologise for.
Unity News Network (UNN) Staff Writer | To find out more details about our staff, please head to the About Us section on our website.
