UKIP spokesman who said gay adoption is ‘child abuse’ denies UKIP Calypso is racist
UKIP Commonwealth spokesman Winston McKenzie, who believes gay couples should not be allowed to adopt children, has defended BBC DJ Mike Read’s UKIP Calypso song from accusations of racism.
In a bizarre interview on Newsnight, McKenzie, wearing sunglasses, said: “Ever since the beginning of time, the Beatles, Elvis, the Rolling Stones, they’ve taken off the black man’s music.
“Now when I heard this song for the very first time, I thought to myself, ‘a white boy, singing calypso, fantastic!’”
The song features Read singing in a mock Jamaican accent at UKIP’s recent party conference.
McKenzie continued: “Look when he sang the song, I had my back to the stage, and when I turned around, and I saw it was Mike… I’m just hoping this guy will do a duo with me… I can sing the white song, he can sing the black song.”
BBC Asian Network DJ Nihal, appearing alongside McKenzie, told Newsnight that the track “made his ears vomit” and was “naff”.
Nihal tried to explain that most of the listeners on the BBC’s Asian Network said they would not vote for UKIP as it is seen as a racist party – a claim not helped by Reed’s song, he added.
Denying the song was racist, McKenzie replied: “This all stems from the PCC [sic] brigade and the media, y’know we have got to walk away from this thing, grow up and be sensible.”
McKenzie unsuccessfully fought the Croydon North by-election for UKIP in 2012.
He was widely condemned for saying gay people should not be allowed to adopt children.
McKenzie, at the time UKIP’s spokesman for culture, media and sport, told the Croydon Advertiser: “If you couldn’t look after your child and you had to put them up for adoption would you honestly want your child to be adopted by a gay couple?
“Would you seriously want that or a heterosexual family? Which would be more healthy for the child?
“A caring loving home is a heterosexual or single family. I don’t believe (a gay couple) is healthy for a child.”
He then went further with his remarks, saying that same-sex adoption is the same as “child abuse”.
In 2005, he unsuccessfully auditioned for the X Factor and has previously been a member of Labour and the Liberal Democrats.
Mike Read famously banned Frankie Goes to Hollywood’s classic anthem “Relax” during his stint at Radio 1, branding the song “obscene”.
He currently presents a daily show on BBC Radio Berkshire.
The BBC has rejected suggestions that Read’s UKIP Calypso represents a breach of editorial guidelines.
