The Sun suggested that Lennon had chosen to identify as black because he had “curly hair” and had struggled to find decent parts as an actor. As a dramatic plot, it appeared to have everything: hubris, nemesis, mistaken identity, even the occasional hint of comedy. The story was picked up by other journalists, and Lennon was portrayed as a conman who had cheated his way to the top at the expense of people of colour. “It really did feel like an assassination – a character assassination.” But there was more to come. Photograph: courtesy of Anthony Ekundayo Lennon “A theatre director who has won funds meant for ‘people of colour’ has admitted his parents and grandparents were all white,” ran the introduction, going on to quote one unnamed black actor who had expressed disquiet: “When I discovered his background, I thought it was unfair that a white man had taken a black person’s place on a BAME scheme.” The article compared Lennon to Rachel Dolezal, the former president of the Spokane chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in the US, who claimed she was black despite having white parents, and when challenged in 2015, argued that “the idea of race is a lie”. Two days after Lennon received the text, the Sunday Times published its story, accusing Lennon of “passing” as black. “Talawa knew about my being of mixed heritage while having white parents.
“I didn’t think I had anything to answer,” he tells me now. He had always been treated by people as mixed race, and so identified as a person of mixed heritage. It was true that his parents were white, but this was no secret nor was the fact that he believed he had African heritage. “It does seem striking that neither the ADLP nor the Talawa has ever made clear that you are a white man,” the journalist wrote, adding: “Why has neither Talawa theatre or the ADLP programme made clear that you have received BAME funding as a white man with Irish parents?” Lennon decided not to respond. Lennon had been awarded an 18-month residency with Talawa, Britain’s best-known black-led theatre company. It was from a journalist at the Sunday Times, asking for a comment on a story the paper was preparing to run about Lennon’s place on a prestigious scheme – the artistic director leadership programme (ADLP) for black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) theatre practitioners. When the class broke for lunch, he saw missed calls from Talawa theatre company, where he had been working for the past year, as well as several unknown numbers and messages. He told them it wouldn’t be anything important, turned the phone over and got on with his lecture. It was so incessant that the students suggested he’d better take a look. The actor and director was giving a talk about the performing arts to university students, and his phone kept flashing.
It was late morning, Friday 2 November 2018. A nthony Ekundayo Lennon remembers the moment his life spun out of control.
0 kommentar(er)
