Actor Rakie Ayola has been praised for her response to critics who suggest showing a Black Welsh family on TV is “woke”.
The Welsh actor, who has been in series such as Doctor Who and Noughts + Crosses, appeared on BBC Breakfast on Monday (24 October) to discuss the second series of BBC thriller The Pact, in which she stars.
During the interview, host Victoria Fritz asked Ayola how she responded to critics who might suggest that The Pact was portraying a “woke version” of a Welsh family by centring a Black household.
“I can see you rolling your eyes,” Fritz said.
Ayola responded: “If anybody wants to say that to me, what I would say first is explain what you mean by ‘woke’ and then we can have the conversation. If you can’t explain it, don’t hand me that word.
“Don’t use a word you cannot describe. Because you don’t know what you mean, or maybe you know exactly what you mean and you’re afraid to say what you mean, so let’s have that conversation… You daren’t, do you know what I mean?”
Fritz said that she understood, with Ayola continuing: “Sit there and tell me what you mean by ‘woke’ and then we can talk about whether this show is ‘woke’ or not. Because then I will introduce you to a family just like this one.
“So when you say they don’t exist when they clearly do, are you saying that they’re not allowed to exist? What do you mean by that?”
The theatre and TV actor concluded: “Let’s have a proper conversation. Don’t throw words around willy nilly when you’re not afraid to say exactly what you mean. If you don’t know, please be quiet because you’re incredibly boring.”
The clip circulated on Twitter, with one viewer commenting: “This clip needs to be played to everybody who uses woke as an insult in the future, what a brilliant answer!”
“Rakie Ayola’s response to the ‘some people’ question was dignified & calm,” another commenter wrote. “We MUST challenge more people who use ‘woke’ to say what this means.”
The Pact returns Monday 24 October at 9pm on BBC One.
