Reni Eddo-Lodge demands apology from Spectator over segregation comments
Reni Eddo-Lodge, the bestselling author of Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race, has demanded a correction and apology from the Spectator after it printed comments from junior minister for equalities Kemi Badenoch that Eddo-Lodge says implies that she supports racial segregation.
Writing on Twitter on Wednesday, Eddo-Lodge announced that she had contacted the Spectator for a correction to its 22 October interview, which ran under the headline “Kemi Badenoch: The problem with critical race theory”. Before the comment Eddo-Lodge has complained about, Badenoch is described as feeling “particularly incensed by the boom in sales of texts such as White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo and Reni Eddo-Lodge’s Why I’m No Longer Talking To White People About Race”.
Related: Why I’m no longer talking to white people about race
Both titles went to the top of the bestseller lists earlier this year after the killing of George Floyd in the US. In June, Eddo-Lodge became the first black British author to top the overall bookcharts.
Eddo-Lodge said she also asked for an apology and correction from the Independent, which ran a news story repeating Badenoch’s comments the same day.
“The article includes the suggestion I am in favour of a racially segregated society. I am not,” Eddo-Lodge wrote, adding that she had not been contacted by either publication offering right of reply before the stories were printed.
The Independent has yet to respond to Eddo-Lodge’s request. She said that the Spectator refused to print a correction or apology, and instead offered her the opportunity to write a response in the magazine.
“I strongly disagree with the charge against me made in both the Independent and the Spectator. I’m not in any way a proponent of segregation,” she wrote.
The Spectator is regulated by Ipso, the independent press regulator, while the Independent has an in-house team that handles requests for corrections. Eddo-Lodge confirmed to the Guardian that she is considering taking her complaint to Ipso.
The Guardian has contacted the Spectator for comment.
