SKY'S 'THE CHOP' PULLED FROM SCHEDULES AS INVESTIGATION LAUNCHED INTO COMPLAINTS
Sky HISTORY's competition series has been pulled from the schedules amid complaints about offensive tattoos on a contestant's face.
Earlier today (Tuesday), Sky HISTORY's official Twitter account tweeted a video of contestant Darren Lumsden, known as 'The Woodman'. Viewers pointed out the number 88 clearly inked on his face, which is white supremacist numerical code for Heil Hitler.
Earlier in the day, Sky HISTORY said: “Darren’s tattoos denote significant events in his life and have no political or ideological meaning whatsoever. Amongst the various numerical tattoos on his body, 1988 is the year of his father’s death. The production team carried out extensive background checks on all the woodworkers taking part in the show, that confirmed Darren has no affiliations or links to racist groups, views or comments. Sky History is intolerant of racism and all forms of hatred and any use of symbols or numbers is entirely incidental and not meant to cause harm or offence.”
Now, in a statement this evening, they said: “While we investigate the nature, and meaning, of Darren’s tattoos, we have removed the video featuring him from our social media pages, and will not be broadcasting any episodes of The Chop: Britain’s Top Woodworker until we have concluded that investigation. Sky HISTORY stands against racism and hate speech of all kinds.”