Jim Davidson has clarified comments made in a tweet on Thursday when he said he would never return to London because Sadiq Khan has “fucked my home town up”.
The controversial comedian has insisted he was not being “racist” but was in fact complaining about “the traffic and congestion”.
In a tweet he wrote: “To all you twitter (sic) moaners re my coment (sic) on my home town. It is purely the congestion and traffic I cannot bare but all you lefties can still call me racsist (sic) if if (sic) gets you off Charlton? You can bypass London and go through Kent.”
Davidson caused a minor storm on social media with his previous tweet which did not detail exactly why he had a beef with the Mayor of London.
Based on past comments, some assumed he was making reference to the ethnic makeup of the capital.
In March 2004, Davidson, left the United Kingdom for the tax-free haven of Dubai in protest at the Labour government.
He said at the time: “I may as well go to Dubai and be an ethnic minority there than wait five years till I become one here.”
But Davidson has also complained about London traffic in the past. Last year he angrily confronted climate change protesters who had held up his car.
He said the demonstrators were “horrid people”, adding: “There’s more pollution going on now because of them. None of them are wearing masks.”
Davidson then asked “where’s Corbyn”, saying the Labour leader “looks like an environmental disaster in a duffel coat”.
Davidson’s brand of comedy, which saw him achieve fame in the 90s, has divided TV fans in the past, and he’s been forced to defend his sense of humour on a number of occasions.
In a since deleted tweet in January, Davidson accused Labour MP David Lammy of playing “the card”.
Lammy responded by tweeting: “Your hate filled jokes about black people in the 80’s legitimised everyday racism towards people like me growing up. I thought as a country we had put it behind us but thank you I will take no lectures from you.”
After getting a huge response to the tweet, Lammy added:
In 2014, in an interview with The Guardian, Davidson claimed people often judge him “from the past”.
“It is a difficult thing, comedy, and I’m on a loser,” he said. “If I cured Aids and fed Africa and ended Ebola and found that missing aeroplane I’d still be that horrible racist, sexist, homophobic comedian. By people, with respect, who haven’t seen me. Or are judging me from the past.”
A year later Davidson expressed admiration for Ukip and their then-party leader Nigel Farage, describing them as the “the Jim Davison of the political world”.
Last year Davidson admitted that the homophobic language he’s used in the past was a “mistake”.
During an appearance on ‘Piers Morgan’s Life Stories’, which will air on ITV tonight (10 March), the 64-year-old comedian says he regrets using the gay slur ‘shirt lifter’ during an appearance on ‘Hell’s Kitchen’ in 2007.
At them time the star was criticised after using the offensive phrase in front of fellow contestant Brian Dowling, who is gay.