Diversity to dance again during Britain’s Got Talent Christmas show

Diversity will take to the stage once again in the Britain’s Got Talent Christmas special.

The group sparked more than 24,000 complaints with a performance on the ITV programme earlier this year, which saw a white performer kneeling on the neck of the group’s founder Ashley Banjo, in a reference to the death of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter movement.

TV watchdog Ofcom dismissed the complaints, concluding that the routine’s “central message was a call for social cohesion and unity”.

A dance supergroup, featuring 2009 winners Diversity, 2018 semi-finalists DVJ and season two winner George Sampson, will open the show with a “Christmas themed performance.”

The Christmas Day show sees all four Britain’s Got Talent judges perform for the first time after Banjo replaced an injured Simon Cowell on the 2020 panel.

Alesha Dixon will sing the Christmas classic Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, accompanied by former winner Tokio Myers on the piano.

David Walliams will front a comedy mashup, with the help of previous comedy acts from the show, and Amanda Holden will sing her Christmas single Home For Christmas with former winners Collabro.

The special, presented by Ant and Dec dressed up as elves, features some of the most memorable and talented acts from the past 14 years.

Holden said: “After this year, I think BGT on Christmas Day for the first time-ever will be a real tonic for everyone.

“We celebrate everything it means to be British, but with this special there’s no winner – it’s not about that, it’s just a celebration of the show.”

She added: “Ashley fronting another Diversity performance was like a movie within the show, with really beautiful music.

“He thinks up the whole thing. It’s like a mini-Spielberg moment.

“And bringing all that young talent through and appearing in it himself, it opens the show and it’s absolutely gorgeous.”

Britain’s Got Talent: Christmas Spectacular airs at 8pm on ITV on Christmas Day.