We read:
"He is an animated reggae-singing mouse who has become a hit for the BBC, entertaining children with his attempts to fight crime and spread love and respect. Yet dreadlocked Rastamouse has provoked more than a hundred complaints to the corporation with parents expressing fears the show is racist and encouraging the use of slang.
The BBC has received complaints from six viewers that the animated show stereotypes black people, while another 95 have complained about the language used in the show.
The Rastafarian mouse, who leads a band called the Easy Crew and speaks in Jamaican Patois, uses phrases such as "me wan go" ("I want to go"), "irie" ("happy"), "wagwan" ("what's going on?"). His mission is to "make a bad ting good".
Source
I don't have much sympathy with the claim that it stereotypes Jamaicans. I think it glorifies Jamaicans, if anything. But I am amazed that the BBC is teaching non-standard English. I thought that the BBC had an educational role.
I know what is going on though. Accent is very important in England, with RP ("Oxford English") being far more prestigious than any other. BBC announcers all used to speak RP but Leftists hate anything that is not "equal" so the BBC has made a point in recent years of using announcers with "Regional" accents. Teaching Jamaican English is just the logical endpoint of that process, I suppose. The fact that Jamaican English is not even used by all people of Jamaican ancestry does not matter, obviously. Tearing down good English is all that matters.
Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).
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