BBC accused of ‘blanking’ Steelband in Jubilee celebrations

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has been accused of deliberately ‘blanking’ a scheduled live broadcast of a Caribbean steelband from the programme of last Sunday’s coverage of a cultural event at Buckingham Palace as part of the official celebrations to mark the Platinum Jubilee of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth 11. The accusation was made on the T&T based online platform, ‘When Steel talks’ on June 7.

The steelband performance, by 100 players drawn from four bands, was like the rest of the performances, due to be brought live, but when the time for the Caribbean pan players to perform, the BBC did what irate Caribbeans called a “whiteout”. The live slot for the steelband performance was instead occupied by the BBC interviewing some British entertainers.

The matter is taken seriously by the Caribbean community in the UK as yet another show of “disrespect” for Caribbean culture and calls have been made for an apology by the BBC and for the full steelband performance to be broadcast on a major BBC national show.