Stormzy And Journalist Gary Younge Poke Fun At BBC's MP Mix-Up

The BBC took a lot of heat after confusing MPs Dawn Butler and Marsha de Cordova during a recent broadcast.

Stormzy and journalist Gary Younge have poked fun at the recent backlash the BBC received after confusing MPs Dawn Butler and Marsha de Cordova on its Parliament channel.

On Monday, the BBC mislabelled de Cordova – Labour’s shadow minister for disabled people – as Butler, who is running to become the party’s next deputy leader during a debate in the Commons.

The BBC quickly apologised for the error, but to make matters worse, the Evening Standard was then forced to issue their own apology, after using a photo of a completely different Black MP in their reporting on the BBC’s mistake.

On Wednesday morning, Stormzy and Gary Younge tweeted out a selfie making fun of the repeated mistakes, with the latter writing: “ATTENTION NEWS EDITORS & CAPTION WRITERS: I’m the one in red. @stormzy is in black.”

He added: “Neither of us are [David Lammy], [Dawn Butler] or Steve McQueen.”

The BBC’s recent gaffe is the latest in a line of similar incidents at the corporation, including one last month, where footage of basketballer Lebron James was used during a tribute of the late Kobe Bryant.

In 2017, Stormzy voiced his upset after an Irish newspaper used a photograph of him to accompany a news story about footballer Romelu Lukaku.

Reacting at the time, Stormzy wrote: “I don’t find none of this funny btw… don’t wanna sound like the party pooper who missed the joke.” 

The Vossi Bop star recently sat down with Gary Younge for an interview in GQ, accompanying the chart-topping rapper’s third cover shoot for the magazine.