It’s been a dark time of late but Sir Lenny Henry was on-hand to dish out some comic relief amid the turmoils of the world at the Visionary Honours Awards last night.
The comedian hosted the awards ceremony at Bafta in London on Tuesday, celebrating both those who are famous as well as creators and local community leaders who have inspired others through their work.
Notable winners included Little Mix singer Leigh-Anne Pinnock for her BBC documentary exploring racism and Strictly Come Dancing winner Rose Ayling-Ellis, who has raised awareness for the deaf community.
Revered broadcaster Sir Trevor McDonald was also recipient of the legacy honour in light of his accomplished career delivering the news and producing groundbreaking documentaries over five decades.
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However, it was Sir Lenny who did the honours of keeping the audience entertained throughout the night and he didn’t hesitate on addressing the elephant in the room – that being all the recent global events.
Kicking off his opening monologue, the Comic Relief co-founder asked: ‘Have you had a look round Bafta? It’s nice isn’t it? It’s just had a refurb, nice carpet, gold everywhere. It was Russian money.
‘You’re all sitting on laundered rubles, you know you are.’
It was, of course, in reference to the Russia’s devastating invasion of Ukraine led by President Vladimir Putin, which has caused significant damage to the former country’s economy as well as the deaths of Ukrainian civilians.
Sir Lenny then took aim at the infamous lockdown parties at Downing Street and quipped: ‘No one got punished for those parties did they. Not one of them. 300 people necking champagne at Number 10, who did they [single out]? The one Black guy.
‘I said to him, Shaun [Bailey], do not put that big arse sound system in there, you don’t need speakers taller than Big Ben [but] the dude wouldn’t listen.’
Former Tory Mayor of London candidate Bailey quit his role within the London Assembly’s policing committee after it emerged he attended a Christmas gathering at Number 10 during lockdown.
Sir Lenny, 63, later encouraged the audience to cheer for Ukraine’s President Volodyrmyr Zelensky, who has been applauded for his bravery in fighting against Russia’s bombing campaign.
‘Let’s not have a moment of silence, I’m talking about a moment of noise. Can we give a big cheer…,’ the host said. ‘Big up to President Zolensky though for leading the fight back. The thing about this guy is he used to be a comedian, you can’t scare him with this s**t he’s done the clubs.
‘You think this is bad, try the Sunderland Empire on a Friday night. Boris must be thanking God this war happened, this is the most relief he’s ever felt without hearing the words “the paternity test is negative”.
‘Have you been watching the coverage [of the war]? It’s brilliant, I’ve never seen journalists so angry. They’re like, “you can’t invade another country, steal it for your own and claim all the resources”. Every Black person in the world’s like, really? You sure about that?’
Elsewhere during the ceremony, live performances came from award-winning poet Sophia Thakur and Ella Henderson, who performed her new single Brave, ahead of the arrival of her long-awaited second album, Everything I Didn’t Say, arriving on March 11.
Other winners included Katie Piper for her podcast Extraordinary People and rapper Enny for her hit song Peng Black Girls.
Strictly winner Rose said when accepting her award for inspirational person of the year: ‘It made me realise that it’s actually the people who really inspire that’s more important. I hear so many stories about deaf people, deaf children especially, becoming more confident and more proud of their deaf identity.
‘That’s actually more important because that’s where the real shame can happen and whether that means having better representation in TV, not just for deaf people but for disabled people, we don’t see enough of that. We need more of that. We’ve still got a long way to go and I’m determined to make that change.’
From diversity and inclusion, to mental health care, the climate crisis, poverty and youth violence prevention, the Visionary Arts Foundation believes that people can create a difference, as well as raise awareness of social issues via film, television, music, literature, podcasts, theatre, media platforms and their communities.
Visionary Honours Awards 2022 full winners list
Book of the year
Maybe I Don’t Belong Here – David Harewood
Podcast of the year
Extraordinary People – Katie Piper
Play/Musical of the year
Death of England: Delroy – Clint Dyer and Roy Williams
Documentary of the year
Leigh-Anne: Race, Pop & Power – Kandise Abiola and Tash Gaunt
Television show of the year
It’s A Sin – Russell T. Davies
Film of the year
Everybody’s Talking About Jamie – Tom MacRae and Jamie Campbell
Song of the year
Peng Black Girls – Enny
Community person of the year
Sabah Ahmedi
Outstanding achievement award
Michaela Coel
Inspirational person of the year
Rose Ayling-Ellis
Legacy honour
Sir Trevor McDonald
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