Sky History has pulled The Chop: Britain’s Top Woodworker after fears from viewers that one of the stars of the show was covered in white supremacist tattoos.
A preview clip of the upcoming episode saw Darren talk to host Lee Mack about his work, and his abundance of tattoos covering up most of his face.
However, viewers were quick to note some of them have become known for racist connotations, and following backlash online Sky have now removed the clip.
A statement released by Sky History said (via Deadline): ‘While we investigate the nature, and meaning, of Darren’s tattoos, we have removed the video featuring him from our social media pages, and will not be broadcasting any episodes of The Chop: Britain’s Top Woodworker until we have concluded that investigation.
‘Sky HISTORY stands against racism and hate speech of all kinds.’
Among Darren’s tattoos was a large 88 on his cheek – which is often associated with white supremacists who use it as code for Heil Hitler (H being the eighth letter of the alphabet).
He also had a tattoo above his lips stating ‘homegrown’, and 23/16 on the sides of his head – which again is used as numerical coding meaning WP, or White Power, within white supremacist circles.
The team initially defended Darren’s tattoos, claiming they had ‘significant meaning’ to him and were not in anyway affiliated with white supremacy or the Nazi party.
‘Darren’s tattoos denote significant events in his life and have no political or ideological meaning whatsoever. Amongst the various numerical tattoos on his body, 1988 is the year of his father’s death,’ they wrote.
‘The production team carried out extensive background checks on all the woodworkers taking part in the show, that confirmed Darren has no affiliations or links to racist groups, views or comments.
‘Sky HISTORY is intolerant of racism and all forms of hatred and any use of symbols or numbers is entirely incidental and not meant to cause harm or offence.’
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