Man ‘blacked up and sang Black And White Minstrel Show songs to co-worker’
A MAINTENANCE man blacked up at a works party then sang songs from the Black And White Minstrel Show to a black co-worker, a court heard.
Brian Davies, 62, was filmed looking like 1920s blackface star Al Jolson as he pranced around in front of Loretta Doyley and other colleagues.
Yesterday he was fined £120 and ordered to pay £300 in costs after Cardiff magistrates found him guilty of racially aggravated harassment.
JP Ken Horseman said: “We have seen the footage and we find it to be abusive.”
Loretta earlier told the court she burst into tears and fled the pub after Davies started singing.
Addressing him, she said: “Everyone was laughing — laughing at me because your actions were directed at me.
“You were mocking me. You sang Mammy. You didn’t sing an ordinary song, you sang a racist song from the Black and White Minstrel Show.”
Davies had organised the Christmas party in the city’s Coopers Carvery for staff at the Priory healthcare group.
He told the court he “never knew” the TV show “was racist”, adding: “My mother and father used to enjoy it.” The programme ran from the 1950s to 1970s.
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