Babylon
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Victim of N-word Bafta rant receives chilling death threat over newspaper article
Last updated at 11:03 AM on 31st May 2011
Ben Douglas received a death threat after his article appeared in the Mail on Sunday detailing the incident at the Bafta awards
Scotland Yard has launched an investigation over allegations that a black TV presenter received a death threat after revealing he had been the victim of racist abuse.
Ben Douglas decided to speak out about being called a 'n*****' at the Bafta awards last week by celebrity hairdresser and friend of Kate Moss, James Brown, 41.
He also called Mr Douglass female companion a n*****s bitch eight times.
Brown has issued a grovelling apology and contacted Mr Douglas to say sorry but now police confirmed they were looking into a message on Twitter that said; 'Ben signed his death warrant die n***** die!!!!!'.
The message had been sent from a fake email account, bendouglasdead@idiot.com.
A police spokesman said: 'Police received an allegation of racially motivated malicious communication from a 34-year-old man. Officers from a South London borough spoke to the alleged victim and inquiries continue.'
There have been no arrests over the case which was revealed in the Mail on Sunday.
Mr Douglas, who has presented on Granada TV programmes said he felt 'annihilated' by the racist abuse her received from Mr Brown outside the Grosvenor House Hotel in London.
Celebrity stylist: James Brown is a hairdresser to the stars and his friend Kate Moss was with him at the Baftas
Brown has been friends with Kate Moss for several years. Here he is seen leaving actress Davinia Taylor's house in North London four years ago
At first Mr Douglas kept Mr Brown's identity under wraps but then Mr Brown came clean and issued a full apology.
He said in a statement: 'I'd like to make a public apology to Mr Douglas, to his friends and to Bafta for my offensive and stupid comments.
'The simple truth is that I had drunk far too much on the evening and my behaviour was totally unacceptable.
'Everyone who knows me knows I am not racist in any way whatsoever, but this incident has shown me that my drinking is way out of control and I need to take urgent measures to deal with it.'
The exclusive Grosvenor House Hotel in Park Lane, London, where Brown made his racist remarks to Douglas
Douglas confirmed that the pair had a 'full and frank conversation' about what happened.
The statement continued: 'I have been in touch with Mr Douglas and will be writing to him and to the Bafta organisers to apologise personally.
'I am very sorry and very embarrassed.'
Earlier, Douglas explained that he had gone public in order to expose increasing use of the abusive word.
He said: 'My motivation isn't that I want to ruin someone's career or to do a "kiss and tell", but I feel it is an opportunity to raise awareness and to put a focus on the use of that word.
'I have seen the use of that word creeping into slang.
'Why did this individual feel that they were able to use that word to insult me and the person I was with?'
In a piece for the Mail on Sunday, he laid out details of what happened.
According to Douglas, Brown first told his female companion: 'You're a n*****'s bitch, that's what you are."
The exchange then continued: 'I said: "Excuse me?" He answered: "Yeah, n*?".
'What did you say?' "N*****".'
'I think that's a bit off,' I said. 'Would you mind not using that word please?'
'What, n*****? n*****? n*****'s not offensive. Nothing wrong with n*****. I know loads of n*****s.'"
A spokeswoman for Bafta said: 'We were unaware of the incident until we read the newspaper story yesterday.
'Neither party has contacted Bafta directly about the matter but we will be investigating it further.'
Last updated at 11:03 AM on 31st May 2011
Scotland Yard has launched an investigation over allegations that a black TV presenter received a death threat after revealing he had been the victim of racist abuse.
Ben Douglas decided to speak out about being called a 'n*****' at the Bafta awards last week by celebrity hairdresser and friend of Kate Moss, James Brown, 41.
He also called Mr Douglass female companion a n*****s bitch eight times.
Brown has issued a grovelling apology and contacted Mr Douglas to say sorry but now police confirmed they were looking into a message on Twitter that said; 'Ben signed his death warrant die n***** die!!!!!'.
The message had been sent from a fake email account, bendouglasdead@idiot.com.
A police spokesman said: 'Police received an allegation of racially motivated malicious communication from a 34-year-old man. Officers from a South London borough spoke to the alleged victim and inquiries continue.'
There have been no arrests over the case which was revealed in the Mail on Sunday.
Mr Douglas, who has presented on Granada TV programmes said he felt 'annihilated' by the racist abuse her received from Mr Brown outside the Grosvenor House Hotel in London.
Celebrity stylist: James Brown is a hairdresser to the stars and his friend Kate Moss was with him at the Baftas
Brown has been friends with Kate Moss for several years. Here he is seen leaving actress Davinia Taylor's house in North London four years ago
At first Mr Douglas kept Mr Brown's identity under wraps but then Mr Brown came clean and issued a full apology.
He said in a statement: 'I'd like to make a public apology to Mr Douglas, to his friends and to Bafta for my offensive and stupid comments.
'The simple truth is that I had drunk far too much on the evening and my behaviour was totally unacceptable.
'Everyone who knows me knows I am not racist in any way whatsoever, but this incident has shown me that my drinking is way out of control and I need to take urgent measures to deal with it.'
The exclusive Grosvenor House Hotel in Park Lane, London, where Brown made his racist remarks to Douglas
Douglas confirmed that the pair had a 'full and frank conversation' about what happened.
The statement continued: 'I have been in touch with Mr Douglas and will be writing to him and to the Bafta organisers to apologise personally.
'I am very sorry and very embarrassed.'
Earlier, Douglas explained that he had gone public in order to expose increasing use of the abusive word.
He said: 'My motivation isn't that I want to ruin someone's career or to do a "kiss and tell", but I feel it is an opportunity to raise awareness and to put a focus on the use of that word.
'I have seen the use of that word creeping into slang.
'Why did this individual feel that they were able to use that word to insult me and the person I was with?'
In a piece for the Mail on Sunday, he laid out details of what happened.
According to Douglas, Brown first told his female companion: 'You're a n*****'s bitch, that's what you are."
The exchange then continued: 'I said: "Excuse me?" He answered: "Yeah, n*?".
'What did you say?' "N*****".'
'I think that's a bit off,' I said. 'Would you mind not using that word please?'
'What, n*****? n*****? n*****'s not offensive. Nothing wrong with n*****. I know loads of n*****s.'"
A spokeswoman for Bafta said: 'We were unaware of the incident until we read the newspaper story yesterday.
'Neither party has contacted Bafta directly about the matter but we will be investigating it further.'
