Yashere blasts 'tokenist' TV bosses

Comedian Gina Yashere has claimed that British television still has a "tokenistic attitude" with black performers.

The stand-up said she was forced to move to LA because she was tired of being overlooked by TV producers.

She told The Guardian: "Britain is still 15 or 20 years behind America as far as black performers are concerned; there is still a very tokenistic attitude.

"You get new white comedians coming through all the time - Russell Brand, Alan Carr, Jimmy Carr - and we've had Lenny Henry for 35 years."

Yashere joked that she would have to wait for Lenny Henry "to die" before she would be given her own show.

"Why are black comics all fighting for that one TV show? And if that one person gets a TV show the rest of us feel like we've been passed over for promotion?" she added.

"Jocelyn Jee Esien gets her show, and because she's got a TV show I know that I'm never going to get one, because they've got their 'black female comedian' token slot filled."