Nella Rose has been praised after explaining cultural appropriation to Nigel Farage on Tuesday night’s episode of I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here!
The heated exchange, which comes shortly after Grace Dent’s shock exit from the ITV reality series, occurred after the former UKIP leader objected to campmates saying the word, ‘water’ in Patois. Farage, 59, claimed that if a white person was to pronounce the word that way, they would be accused of racism. His provocative comment was instantly challenged by YouTube star Nella, who asked, “What do you mean, Nigel?”
The Brexit Party founder continued: “If a white person does a Black accent, that’s considered to be a crime, that they should be cancelled for it.” Nella, 22, then explained that it’s dependant on context, before adding, “If you’re taking the p***, then you’re taking the p***. If you’re not, then you’re not.”
Farage dismissively replied, “Sort of ‘can’t win’ territory,” to which Nella repeated, “Nah, it just depends on the context.” The conversation then turned to the subject of using another person’s culture as a costume, after Farage defended the practice and argued that there was “enormous confusion” over what is acceptable and what’s not.
“It’s like when you go to a fancy dress party dressed as something and now the press will say it’s cultural appropriation,” he said, to which Nella asked, “Like what? If you were to do Blackface, it is wrong.” Farage then said, “Dressed as a Mexican, or whatever it is,” prompting Nella to explain the problematic nature of doing so.
“Yeah, because you can’t use somebody’s culture as a costume [for] fancy dress. The Mexican outfit is tradition to them. That’s been in their culture for decades. That’s why, in America, they don’t dress up as Native Americans, because it’s not a joke,” she continued. Farage remained unconvinced, however, dismissively replying: “I don’t know what the rules are… There just seems to be this most enormous confusion about what you can and can’t do, can and can’t wear.”
EastEnders star Danielle Harold later praised Nella for her handling of the sensitive discussion, after admitting that she had previously found some of Farage’s remarks on immigration to be ‘inhumane’. Meanwhile, viewers also praised the YouTuber for how she handled the tense conversation with the ex UKIP leader.
One wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter: “It was only matter of time before Nigel finally let that mask slip Nella handled that situation so well. #ImaCeleb #ImACelebrityGetMeOutOfHere”. Another added: “Nigel Farage trying to act like he’s on top of racism and just sticking his foot in it yet again I’m glad Danielle picked up on how Nella handled it, because she must be EXHAUSTED living with him #ImACeleb”.
“Hopefully Nella is ok. I think conversations like the one she had with Nigel are the type to break your spirit slowly. God knows what things he’s said that haven’t been aired. The use of “they” was defo a weird micro aggression. Ughhh. #imaceleb,” a third added. Last week, Nella confronted Farage on his right-wing beliefs around the bath area of the camp.
“Apparently you’re anti-immigrants,” the Internet personality said before she added: “Why don’t black people like you?” Farage immediately denied the accusation, replying, “You’d be amazed, they do. If you came with me through south London, you’d be astonished.”
Nella then said, “So everyone hates you for no reason?,” before correcting herself and clarifying: “Not that everyone hates you, that was so bad. Sorry.” Farage, who said in 2014 that he feels uncomfortable hearing languages other than English being spoken on public transport in London, then called the accusations against him “grossly unfair”.
“‘Anti-immigrant’, right? No, no, all I’ve said is we cannot go on with the numbers coming to Britain that are coming,” he insisted, before arguing that the rates of immigration was putting pressure on the NHS. This wasn’t accepted by Nella, who came to the UK from Belgium when she was seven years old.
“I’m stopping you getting a GP appointment? You’re not getting an appointment because the NHS is lacking funding,” she replied. “I bet you anything if every single immigrant or from immigrant descent was to leave the UK, all your doctors gone, most of your doctors are Asian right? Most of your nurses are African women, right?” Nella then said, “You want us gone, that’s all I understood,” to which Farage replied, “We’ll agree to disagree.”
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