Boris Johnson and the ‘piccaninny’ smear

Boris Johnson likes to call black people ‘piccaninnies’. Everyone’s saying it. Even Stormzy said it this week in his endorsement of Jeremy Corbyn. It is ‘criminally dangerous’ to give the keys of Downing Street back to a man who refers to ‘black people as “piccaninnies” with “watermelon smiles”’, the grime superstar said.

Whether Stormzy also thinks it is criminally dangerous to elect as PM a man who counts as ‘friends’ an organisation that literally wants to destroy the Jewish homeland is not clear. But hey, Jews don’t matter very much. We’ve all learned that over the past few years.

But does Boris really call black people ‘piccaninnies’? Has he ever? The distinct impression we’ve been given by Corbynistas and Boris-bashers over the past few months is that ‘piccaninnies’ is Boris’s go-to name for black people. Owen Jones even thinks broadcasters should ask Boris: ‘Does he still believe that black people should be called piccaninnies with watermelon smiles?’

Notice how Jones moves the ‘piccaninny’ accusation a step further — he wants people to believe Boris thinks black people should be called piccaninnies.