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Sign as much as our free fortnightly publication from The Independent’s Race Correspondent Nadine White
Sign as much as our free fortnightly publication The Race Report
An award-winning rapper who’s going through legal motion from Arts Council England (ACE) following her allegations of racial discrimination has condemned a ”vindictive” lawsuit in an unique interview with The Independent.
In an unprecedented transfer, ACE is looking for legal prices of as much as £40,000 from Speech Debelle after she introduced an unsuccessful employment tribunal case in opposition to them over racial discrimination final 12 months.
Speech Debelle, whose actual title is Corynne Elliot, turned the second girl to win the celebrated Mercury Prize in 2009 for her ‘Speech Therapy’ album and started working on the council as a relationship supervisor for 3 years.
In September 2021, she left the function and introduced a declare in opposition to the charity for racial discrimination, bullying and harassment which was not upheld. Now, it is looking for to recuperate the cash it spent preventing Ms Elliot’s declare.
“It’s retaliatory discrimination,” the artist, 40, instructed The Independent. “What they want to do is punish and make an example of me. It’s a tactic. Despite the internal issues within the organisation, their concern is what is seen by the public.
“It’s not about whether what happened to me is true or not, whether what happened to the other people who complain about racism is true or not, it’s about ‘we cannot show that we have a culture of racism’; that is ACE’S concern.
“A lot of people cannot afford to fight them in court and not everyone has my profile. I’m being made an example of because ACE doesn’t want anybody else to follow suit and hold them to account.”
(pa)
Launched in 1994, ACE is a registered charity and a non-departmental public physique of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.
An impartial overview commissioned by the Arts Council and printed in June 2023, revealed problems with racism throughout the organisation, highlighting that Black, Asian and ethnically various workers had confronted racism and discrimination which had not been handled constantly throughout the organisation.
“Almost all staff colleagues of Black, Asian and ethnically diverse backgrounds who contributed to the review shared negative experiences at the Arts Council in relation to their race,” the report learn.
The organisation has by no means beforehand sought prices following a tribunal declare in opposition to them, a spokesperson confirmed to The Independent; this is an distinctive case which might drive the rapper and her legal crew to pay £20,000 every.
The rapper slammed the “David versus Goliath” case in opposition to ACE however says she stays adamant about preventing again.
“This battle really is a ‘David versus Goliath’ case,” mentioned Ms Elliot, who says the case has had a monetary and emotional toll on her.
“I wouldn’t say I’m optimistic about the outcome – I know that I’m going up against some giants. ACE’s team are not just your everyday barristers and solicitors – but justice is very important to me.
“That’s why I’ve been doing music for years; my second album was called ‘Freedom of Speech’, it was about revolution. There’s nothing about me that is going to be okay with injustice.
(AP)
An Arts Council England spokesperson said: “The unanimous judgment of the tribunal was that the claims against Arts Council England were dismissed and the tribunal found that Arts Council staff acted professionally and appropriately.
Whilst we will not comment further as proceedings are ongoing, we can confirm that we take our responsibility as custodians of taxpayers’ money seriously, and are therefore seeking to recover legal costs.
“Our approach is based on the exceptional comments of the judge on the merits and conduct of the claimant’s case, which was dismissed entirely on every point.”
Ms Elliot is representing herself on this case and crowdfunding in the direction of legal prices.
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