Badenoch gives credence to race-swap conspiracy theory about Adolescence (which she hasn’t watched)
Kemi Badenoch has given credence to a conspiracy theory about the Netflix hit Adolescence being based on a real story, but involving a black boy not a white boy.
This has been described as wholly untrue by Jack Thorne, the writer and co-creator of the series, which has been praised by Keir Starmer for the way it has opened up a debate about the radicalisation of young men.
Starmer met Thorne, and some of the shows other creators, in Downing Street this week, along with charities engaged in child protection, and the PM said he would like as many pupils as possible to watch the series.
The four-part drama is about a 13-year-old boy arrested for the murder of a girl at his school. The Guardian’s reviewer described it as “the most devastating and immaculately scripted and played series I have ever seen – as close to televisual perfection as you can get”.
In an interview with GB News, asked if she has seen it, Badenoch replied:
Well, I think Adolescence is a fictional story. It’s based on a real story, but my understanding is that the boy who committed that crime was not white.
So, people can do whatever they like in fiction. The prime minister should not be building policy on fiction. He should be building policy on reality. What is the reality? Phones are disrupting schools and not enough schools have effective bans.
Badenoch went on to talk about the Tory policy to ban mobile phones in schools. In an earlier LBC interview this morning she said that she had not actually watched the programme, because “I don’t have time to watch anything these days, to be honest.”
Speaking to LBC, Badenoch also stated her belief that Adolescence was based on a true story. She said:
The story which it is based on has been fundamentally changed and so creating policy on a work of fiction rather than on reality is the real issue.
But, in an interview last week on the News Agents podcast, Thorne said there was no truth in the claim that he had adapted a real story involving a black boy. He said:
They’ve claimed that Stephen [Graham] and I based it on a story and so they’re saying that we race swapped it, because we were basically here and then ended up there, and everything else, and nothing is further from the truth.
I have told a lot of real-life stories in my time. I know the harm that can come when you take elements of a real-life story, and you put it on screen, and the people aren’t expecting it. There is no part of this that’s based on a true story, not one single part.
Asked about critics who complained about the main character being white, Thorne said:
It’s absurd to say that this is only committed by black boys, it’s absurd, it’s not true. And history shows a lot of cases of kids from all races committing these crimes.
We’re not making a point about race with this. We are making a point about masculinity. We’re trying to get inside a problem. We’re not saying this is one thing or another. We’re saying this is about boys.
The claim that Adolescence was based on a real story involving a black boy has been circulated on social media, including by people claiming that the colour of the main character was changed to conform with an anti-white agenda.
Ian Miles Cheong, a prominent rightwing commentator on X, floated this argument last month in a post that has attracted 4.8m views saying:
Netflix has a show called Adolescence that’s about a British knife killer who stabbed a girl to death on a bus and it’s based on real life cases such as the Southport murderer.
So guess what. They race swapped the actual killer from a black man/migrant to a white boy and the story has it so he was radicalized online by the red pill movement.
Just the absolute state of anti-white propaganda.
This attracted a comment from Elon Musk, the X owner, billionaire Trump ally and far-right provocateur, saying: “Wow.”
Badenoch has been accused, including by Keir Starmer at PMQs, of spending too much time reading social media.
Key events
-
Afternoon summary
-
Lawyers attack ‘dangerous’ decision to halt Sentencing Council guidelines
-
Andy Burnham calls for jobcentres to be renamed Live Well centres
-
Green party say it is ‘sickening’ Labour is boasting about deportation flights on campaign leaflets
-
Chagos Islands deal now being finalised with Mauritius, No 10 says, after Trump gives it approval
-
Badenoch gives credence to race-swap conspiracy theory about Adolescence (which she hasn’t watched)
-
Jarvis refuses to rule out China being included in Firs enhanced tier in future
-
Tories demand to know why China not included in enhanced tier of foreign influence registration scheme
-
Russia to be in enhanced tier of foreign influence registration scheme, security minister Dan Jarvis tells MPs
-
Green party claim Sentencing Council bill based on ‘wilful misunderstanding’ and will lead to more unjust punishments
-
Diane Abbott says government should not be interfering with independence of Sentencing Council
-
Robert Jenrick suggests chair of Sentencing Council should resign
-
Mahmood confirms new bill will stop Sentencing Council making pre-sentence report guidelines relating to race
-
Mahmood says, despite ‘noble’ intentions behind controversial Sentencing Council guidelines, they went too far
-
Shabana Mahmood makes statement to MPs about Sentencing Council
-
Starmer tells cabinet talks with US on economic deal are at ‘advanced stage’
-
Conservation groups criticise Starmer over ‘spiders blocking housing’ claims
-
Asylum system risks ‘damaging social cohesion’, Glasgow city council warns
-
Rayner says it would be ‘ridiculous’ to cancel Trump’s state visit in retaliation for tariffs
-
Badenoch rejects claims differing food standards might be obstacle to US trade deals, saying quotas more important
-
Badenoch rejects claim she has told her MPs not to criticise Trump
-
Badenoch claims Labour’s ‘jobs tax’ will cost average families £3,500 by end of this parliament
-
Lib Dems call for Cobra meeting to discuss US tariffs, saying ‘we can’t kowtow to Trump any longer’
-
Limited global trade war, with Britain exempt from US tariffs, could have ‘mildly positive’ impact for UK, MPs told
-
OBR did not include US tariff policy in its forecasts partly because it was ‘changing every day’, its chair says
-
Starmer says firms needs ‘calm’ not ‘knee-jerk’ response to US tariffs, playing down prospect of retaliatory measures
-
Badenoch says Tories would oppose retaliatory tariffs against US because they would just make ‘everyone poorer’
-
Starmer says he accepts cost of living crisis ‘ongoing’, despite wages going up
-
OBR chair Richard Hughes gives evidence to Treasury committee
-
Starmer dismisses claims he’s been ‘played’ by Trump, and says future trade deal could lessen impact of tariffs
-
Badenoch says local elections will be ‘very difficult’ for Tories
-
Kemi Badenoch interviewed on LBC
-
Reynolds rejects claim prosecution of anti-abortion campaigners in UK could block trade deal with US
-
UK in ‘best possible position’ to negotiate future exemptions from Trump tariffs, business secretary Jonathan Reynolds says
Afternoon summary
-
Keir Starmer has rejected claims that the expected imposition of US tariffs on Britain means he has been “played” by President Trump. Starmer said that the UK and the US were at an “advanced stage” in negotiating an economic deal, and he suggested that this could lead to the UK getting exemptions from US tariffs in future. (See 9.53am and 1.15pm.) According to Steven Swinford from the Times, a deal is ready to sign. “But US is refusing to sign it until after hitting UK with tariffs on April 2, aka Liberation Day,” Swinford says.
-
Richard Hughes, the chair of the Office of Budget Responsibility, has told MPs that the OBR is likely to downgrade its growth forecast in the autumn. As the Telegraph reports, he said the OBR’s most recent report, which downgraded the UK growth forecast for 2025 from 2% to 1%, was based on IMF projections from January, before Trump’s policies kicked in. Hughes told the Treasury committee:
Putting in place more restrictions on global trade around the world is not very good for global output, and it’s pretty reasonable to say the direction of that is going to be down.
-
Kemi Badenoch has given credence to a conspiracy theory about the Netflix hit Adolescence being based on a real story, but involving a black boy not a white boy – despite also admitting she has not seen the show. (See 3.59am.)
