Beautiful Virgin Islands

Thursday, Oct 30, 2025

People Just Do Nothing stars hit out at lack of diversity in media

People Just Do Nothing stars hit out at lack of diversity in media

Asim Chaudhry and Allan Mustafa say much of comedy still dominated by white, middle-class people
The entertainment and journalism industries lack the diversity necessary to reflect British society, the creators of the acclaimed comedy People Just Do Nothing have said.

Speaking to the Radio Times, the stars of the Bafta-winning programme said much of comedy remained dominated by people from middle-class backgrounds, while they said they had been accused of racism by white journalists when depicting their own communities.

“What was so weird was these white journalists early on telling me that doing Chabuddy G’s accent was racist,” said Asim Chaudhry, who plays the character. “He was based on my dad. How can they think I’m mocking the culture? I am the culture. I just don’t think they’d actually met anyone from that culture before. For some reason, in our industry, all you see is white, middle-class people.”

His co-star Allan Mustafa, who is also known as Seapa and plays MC Grindah in the programme, agreed that a lack of diversity remained a problem in comedy. “We were coming not long after that ‘anti-chav’ comedy of Little Britain, and just doing things on our terms.

“You shouldn’t have to come from Oxford or Cambridge to be funny, but it’s still occurring in the industry in a lot of ways. It’s changing but it needs to change a lot more – not just class but ethnicity, gender. There’s still not enough behind the camera.”

Chaudhry has spoken publicly about the dynamics of race in comedy in the past, setting out a conversation he had with a white correspondent in 2020 who asked why some jokes could cause offence if they made them but would be less likely to do so if Chaudhry did.

“Chabuddy G is … an intricate, three-dimensional creation with depth, soul and heart,” he wrote to the correspondent. “Yes, you can do the accent too, but you need to put time and effort into it as it needs to [be] really good so it shows you care about the impression and not just being offensive.”

Asked to elaborate on why some things might cause more offence when said or done by a white person, he explained: “You have to put yourself in that person’s shoes. It’s empathy. Doing an accent badly can be offensive because it can trigger past trauma. When I was your age, people used to do bad Indian accents to me to mock me and it was very hurtful.

“You having a laugh is not as important as someone feeling hurt because you’re mocking the way they or their parents speak.”
Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
UK and Vietnam Sign Landmark Migration Deal to Fast-Track Returns of Irregular Arrivals
UK Drug-Pricing Overhaul Essential for Life-Sciences Ambition, Says GSK Chief
Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie Temporarily Leave the UK Amid Their Parents’ Royal Fallout
UK Weighs Early End to Oil and Gas Windfall Tax as Reeves Seeks Investment Commitments
UK Retail Inflation Slows as Shop Prices Fall for First Time Since Spring
Next Raises Full-Year Profit Guidance After Strong Third-Quarter Performance
Reform UK’s Lee Anderson Admits to 'Gaming' Benefits System While Advocating Crackdown
United States and South Korea Conclude Major Trade Accord Worth $350 Billion
Hurricane Melissa Strikes Cuba After Devastating Jamaica With Record Winds
Vice President Vance to Headline Turning Point USA Campus Event at Ole Miss
U.S. Targets Maritime Narco-Routes While Border Pressure to Mexico Remains Limited
Bill Gates at 70: “I Have a Real Fear of Artificial Intelligence – and Also Regret”
Elon Musk Unveils Grokipedia: An AI-Driven Alternative to Wikipedia
Saudi Arabia Unveils Vision for First-Ever "Sky Stadium" Suspended Over Desert Floor
Amazon Announces 14 000 Corporate Job Cuts as AI Investment Accelerates
UK Shop Prices Fall for First Time Since March, Food Leads the Decline
London Stock Exchange Group ADR (LNSTY) Earns Zacks Rank #1 Upgrade on Rising Earnings Outlook
Soap legend Tony Adams, long-time star of Crossroads, dies at 84
Rachel Reeves Signals Tax Increases Ahead of November Budget Amid £20-50 Billion Fiscal Gap
NatWest Past Gains of 314% Spotlight Opportunity — But Some Key Risks Remain
UK Launches ‘Golden Age’ of Nuclear with £38 Billion Sizewell C Approval
UK Announces £1.08 Billion Budget for Offshore Wind Auction to Boost 2030 Capacity
UK Seeks Steel Alliance with EU and US to Counter China’s Over-Capacity
UK Struggles to Balance China as Both Strategic Threat and Valued Trading Partner
Argentina’s Markets Surge as Milei’s Party Secures Major Win
British Journalist Sami Hamdi Detained by U.S. Authorities After Visa Revocation Amid Israel-Gaza Commentary
King Charles Unveils UK’s First LGBT+ Armed Forces Memorial at National Memorial Arboretum
At ninety-two and re-elected: Paul Biya secures eighth term in Cameroon amid unrest
Racist Incidents Against UK Nurses Surge by 55%
UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves Cites Shared Concerns With Trump Administration as Foundation for Early US-UK Trade Deal
Essentra plc: A Closer Look at a UK ‘Penny Stock’ Opportunity Amid Market Weakness
U.S. and China Near Deal to Avert Rare-Earth Export Controls Ahead of Trump-Xi Summit
Justin time: Justin Herbert Shields Madison Beer with Impressive Reflex at Lakers Game
Russia’s President Putin Declares Burevestnik Nuclear Cruise Missile Ready for Deployment
Giuffre’s Memoir Alleges Maxwell Claimed Sexual Act with Clooney
House Republicans Move to Strip NYC Mayoral Front-Runner Zohran Mamdani of U.S. Citizenship
Record-High Spoiled Ballots Signal Voter Discontent in Ireland’s 2025 Presidential Election
Philippines’ Taal Volcano Erupts Overnight with 2.4 km Ash Plume
Albania’s Virtual AI 'Minister' Diella Set to 'Birth' Eighty-Three Digital Assistants for MPs
Tesla Unveils Vision for Optimus V3 as ‘Biggest Product of All Time’, Including Surgical Capabilities
Francis Ford Coppola Auctions Luxury Watches After Self-Financed Film Flop
Convicted Sex Offender Mistakenly Freed by UK Prison Service Arrested in London
United States and China Begin Constructive Trade Negotiations Ahead of Trump–Xi Summit
U.S. Treasury Sanctions Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro over Drug-Trafficking Allegations
Miss USA Crowns Nebraska’s Audrey Eckert Amid Leadership Overhaul
‘I Am Not Done’: Kamala Harris Signals Possible 2028 White House Run
NBA Faces Integrity Crisis After Mass Arrests in Gambling Scandal
Swift Heist at the Louvre Sees Eight French Crown Jewels Stolen in Under Seven Minutes
U.S. Halts Trade Talks with Canada After Ontario Ad Using Reagan Voice Triggers Diplomatic Fallout
Microsoft AI CEO: ‘We’re making an AI that you can trust your kids to use’ — but can Microsoft rebuild its own trust before fixing the industry’s?
×