‘Australia, the most racist English speaking country,’ says UK comedian Dane Baptiste

An British comedian has hit out at Australia after he claimed he was followed for hours around a Perth pub by security because he was black.

A British comedian has said Australia is “the most racist English speaking country” after he claimed he was followed around a pub in Perth by security because he was black.

Dane Baptiste had been on a tour of Australia during early June taking in the Melbourne Comedy Festival and Western Australia.

The 38-year-old is an accomplished comic in the UK. He was nominated for the 2014 best newcomer award at the Edinburgh Comedy Festival, has appeared on multiple TV programs and wrote a pilot show for the BBC.

It was while he was in WA that the alleged incident occurred.

Dane Baptiste said Australia is the most English speaking country. Picture: Andrew Tauber

Taking to social media, Baptiste uploaded an image of himself and a man standing behind him.

“Wouldn’t be Australia without being followed around by security,” he wrote.

Baptiste didn’t explicitly name the pub but the post had the location tag of a pub in Subiaco.

Located in the inner city suburb of Subiaco, around 4km west of Perth’s CBD, the pub’s website stated it is “everyone’s local and a Subiaco landmark since 1897”.

Baptiste said he had gone to a bar to watch the football.

“This guy followed me around the pub for two and a half hours during the FA Cup final. ⁠

“Wouldn’t have been a trip to Australia without 1980s vintage racism.

British comic Dane Baptiste claimed the man behind him (who news.com.au has blurred) was a security guard that was following him around.

“Australia, take a bow, still the most racist English speaking country I’ve been to in my whole life and I’ve been to Germany five times, and Finland, and they are white ass places. ⁠”

He alleged that it wasn’t the only racist incident he had experienced on his Australia trip and said a “Lebanese guy” in Sydney has accused him of stealing at toothbrush from a chemist.

A number of people on Instagram agreed that Australia was a racist nation.

“I was frequently open mouthed in shock at the racism I witnessed in Australia, said one.

“Australia is so backward with anything vaguely equalities based,” said another.

Baptiste’s post on social media.

However, a further commenter said she lived in Australia and had not had people be racist towards her.

“I’m a person of colour living in Melbourne and I’ve not once experienced racism towards myself or my kids.

“I can assure you that it’s not like that everywhere, but I understand how frustrated and p***ed off you would be”.

Baptiste’s post had a location tag of Perth’s Subiaco Hotel.

In 2020, Baptiste received an apology from a production company owned by US media giant NBCUniversal when it confused him for a black actor.

The firm had sent Baptiste a press photo of himself to approve. But the image was of British actor Richard Blackwood who has appeared in UK soaps EastEnders and Hollyoaks.

He tweeted about the bungle adding “Diversity and inclusion indeed”.

This just in:

Tv production company just sent me press shots of myself to approve before they start the press run. This is the picture the sent ME of ME.

I swear on my mother’s soul they sent it. #DiversityandInclusion indeed #BlackLivesMatter 😄😄😄😄😄😄😄😄😄😄 pic.twitter.com/shOyvRiEOH

— Dane Baptiste/A$ap BAP/Joke Dza (@DaneBaptweets) July 13, 2020

At the time, a spokeswoman for the company, Monkey Kingdom, apologised.

“We are sincerely sorry for our error, which was deeply offensive and inexcusable.

“As a production company, we are very proud of our work contributing to greater diversity on screen and behind the camera, and know that today we have unintentionally undermined important and much needed progress.

“We have apologised privately to Dane and Richard.”

Originally published as ‘Australia, the most racist English speaking country,’ says UK comedian Dane Baptiste