David Attenborough WWF charity video is deleted over racism fears after his voiceover talked of ‘stabilising the population’ over images of Asian people
- World Wildlife Fund shared footage showing Asian people bathing in a river
- Sir David, 94, urges listeners to ‘stabilise the human population’ as clip is shown
- Viewers said it unfairly ‘blames people of colour for a growing global population’
A Sir David Attenborough conservation charity video has been deleted after his voiceover talked about controlling population growth over images of Asian people.
The World Wildlife Fund UK shared the footage of people bathing in a river as Sir David, 94, urges listeners to ‘stabilise the human population.’
Viewers were quick to slam the footage as racist, claiming it unfairly ‘blames people of colour for a growing global population’.
The WWF deleted the video hours after sharing it and issued an apology on Twitter.
Their statement read: ‘Earlier today we shared a video that could appear to support a narrative that people of colour are responsible for the pressures of a growing world population.
The World Wildlife Fund shared footage of people bathing in a river as Sir David, 94, urges listeners to ‘stabilise the human population’
The World Wildlife Fund deleted the video hours after sharing it. They wrote on Twitter: ‘Earlier today we shared a video that could appear to support a narrative that people of colour are responsible for the pressures of a growing world population’
Sir David told the paper that he couldn’t remember if he watched the highly-criticised version of the clip
‘This is not our intent at all. We have deleted the video and apologise – we will do better.’
Other edited versions of the clip have Sir David talking about population growth, but only white people are shown while he does, The Times reports.
Sir David told the paper that he couldn’t remember if he watched the highly-criticised version of the clip.
The WWF deleted the video hours after sharing it and issued a public apology on Twitter
Asked if population growth discussions should be illustrated with images of black and white people, he replied: ‘It’s such a sensitive question, so subject to nuance that I really can’t, without knowing what I’m talking about … comment.’
Viewers of the controversial clip slammed the organisation’s apology as missing the mark.
Gavin Thomson wrote: ‘This ain’t it. The video blamed PoC for a growing global population, and asserted that this population growth is driving climate change (wrong, racist), and further that you would “control” this growth (terrifying, frankly).’
Viewers of the controversial clip slammed the organisation’s apology as missing the mark
Gary Dunion added: ‘A lot of people must have seen that before it went up and they either didn’t notice the racism or were fine with it.
‘I would appreciate hearing what WWF UK will be doing to educate its staff on the inherent racism of overpopulation narratives, so this error is not repeated.’
Meg Montague wrote: ‘Overpopulation being a driver for climate change is a racist myth in and of itself; you haven’t even done better in your apology tweet.’