The Scottish Government has been forced to drop comedian Janey Godley from their latest Covid-19 information campaign amid the resurfacing of racist and offensive tweets.
Janey Godley came to recognition after her comedy voiceovers of the First Minister during the Covid-19 pandemic. An avid supporter of the SNP and the independence movement, the Scottish Government were keen to utilise Janey Godley’s popularity to front their public information campaigns. As such, the Scottish Government paid Janey Godley £12,000 of tax payers’ money to launch their latest “Stop the Spike” campaign, urging Scots to follow public health advice and continue to adhere to the Covid-19 restrictions.
On Thursday morning, however, a series of historical tweets by Janey Godley were uncovered that were described as “obscenely racist”. The tweets themselves referenced black American celebrities including Kelly Rowland and Snoop Dog, with one tweet stating the latter is “a black rapper of course has weed, that’s his job isn’t it?”. The tweets were not limited to racism, with many using “offensive, hurtful language” (to use Godley’s own description) regarding the disabled and the LGBTQ+ community.
The Scottish Government immediately removed Godley’s involvement in the Stop the Spike Campaign stating that:
“A series of unacceptable tweets by Janey Godley have been brought to our attention and, while she has rightly apologised, trust in our public health messages at this time is paramount. We have therefore taken the decision to withdraw any further campaign material in which Ms Godley features.”
When pressured about this incident, Nicola Sturgeon simply said: “these things happen”, angering Conservative MSP Pam Gosal who tweeted: “As a woman of colour, I’m absolutely disgusted at these comments” and that “these things don’t just happen… it is disgraceful that Scotland’s First Minister dismisses such behaviour”.
It is understood that the Scottish Government had ignored earlier reports from a member of the public regarding Janey Godley’s tweets back in July when she was planned to front the ‘Scotland is Stunning’ anti-littering campaign. The Scottish Government responded to these reports informing the concerned member of the public that Zero Waste Scotland – the organisation managing the marketing for the campaign – had investigated the tweets and saw no cause for concern. However, the Scottish Government has now admitted that this report was not shared with Zero Waste Scotland.
So, when the First Minister states: “these things happen”, is she referring to the offensive tweets or the fact that they were uncovered publicly instead of privately?