Britain's Got Talent faces backlash after 'Jim Crow' audition leaves viewers outraged

ok.co.uk:

Britain's Got Talent shocked some viewers during its first show when serial auditionee Jim Fitzpatrick returned dressed in a giant black crow costume - as people at home connected the performance to the historical American racism associated with the phrase "Jim Crow".

While the performer was never once referred to as "Jim Crow" during his audition, a vast amount of ITV viewers were outraged by the costume, claiming ITV should have known of the historic racism connection.

The phrase "Jim Crow" specifically refers to the repressive laws used to restrict Black American rights, and is a term that originally traces back to the 1830s minstrel routine.

At the time, white actor Thomas Dartmouth Rice became famous for performing as Jim Crow, a caricature of a Black slave. The phrase was then used colloquially to describe the laws and subsequent customs enforcing racial segregation that swept across the US in the 1830s and onwards.