BBC presenter Nihal Arthanayake racially abused outside a pub in Manchester
Popular British Asian BBC presenter Nihal Arthanayake, was racially abused outside a pub in Altrincham, Greater Manchester twice.
According to reports, the incident, which occurred last month, happened when Arthanayake was waiting for his wife outside after watching the performance of a friend’s band.
In a video released on Twitter, he described the incident saying, “I don’t really know what just happened. I was in a place called Altrincham, which is a bit of a hole.
“I was outside this pub, which I’d been in with my wife, dancing around, jumping around etcetera. It was fun. Covers band, they were very good.
“I saw this man sitting outside, I was waiting for my wife to come out, so I said “Can I come and sit with you, can we talk?” and he was like “Yeah, yeah absolutely.” Little, a kind of drunk man.
“We got talking and he said: “Oh are you a doctor?” So, I started laughing because it’s a question as an Asian you might get asked. And I went “Well why would you ask that?”
“And he said, “Well because you’re a p**”. And then he went “Oh I guess I can’t say p**” and then he said the n-word!
“Then he kind of looked at me and was like “Oh sorry, you’re offended, aren’t you?” And I said “Well why did you say that word?”
“He said “I’m sorry I’m a massive…” and used the c-word.
“I said “You’re not a massive c-word, you’re just an average one. Dictators are massive c-words, you’re just an average one.” It was so weird.”
Arthanayake, who hosts an afternoon talk show on BBC Radio Five Live, went to the Stretford police station in Manchester and gave a statement.
Several trolls also attacked him after he posted the video, with Arthanayake expressing his disappointment on a small group of people trying to gaslight him.
Some of them called him an anti-white racist and claimed that he was a part of the conspiracy to replace white people with those from other countries.
He explained, “They then started to accuse me of being an anti-white racist. From there it escalated to being told I don’t belong in the UK and I am an invader and part of a great conspiracy to replace white people with “invaders” from “s***holes”.
“Then came the anti-Semitism which accused Jewish people of masterminding this influx of immigrants to supplant the ‘indigenous Brits’, myself being one of them.”
Several of the abusive comments have now been taken down but Arthanayake has said that he was not just abused by people in the UK but also those living abroad.
