Lord Alan Sugar was berated on his X account after he claimed that the latest arrival onto the square, Kojo Asare (played by Dayo Koleosho), was being “disingenuous” when portraying an autistic character – despite the actor having autism.
The storyline sees George Knight’s (Colin Salmon) brothers Kojo and Kobina Asare (Jonathan Nyati) seek to forge a relationship with him, after being reunited through their mother’s friend Angela.
George recently found out that his adoptive father, Eddie Knight (Christopher Fairbank) killed his biological father Henry Kofi Asare, and left The Vic owner to have an identity crisis.
In scenes which aired this week, the brothers found out that George “stood by” and watched their father be killed, unaware of the circumstances and the young age at which he witnessed his death.
Kobina was furious at the information and stormed out of the Vic with Kojo, only to later realise that Kojo had made his way back to The Vic and gotten himself lost – lashing out at Martin Fowler (James Bye).
After having a heart-to-heart with Kobina and putting their differences aside, George agreed to take on some of the burden of looking after Kojo – who is severely autistic and hurts himself on occasion.
I understand that the remit of the BBC is to cater for all walks of life. I personally think the character Kojo is a step too far. It is sad and hard to watch and some what disingenuous to those genuine people who are autistic. @bbceastenders https://t.co/j3WdsNXdjl
— Lord Sugar (@Lord_Sugar) August 30, 2024
Fans have been left blown away by the level of acting and how they have managed to handle the sensitive storyline, with one superfan writing on X: “The actor who plays Kojo is incredible! Such a realistic portrayal of a character with autism.”
However, Sugar didn’t seem to agree with the statement and quote tweeted the statement and replied: “I understand that the remit of the BBC is to cater for all walks of life.
“I personally think the character Kojo is a step too far. It is sad and hard to watch and somewhat disingenuous to those genuine people who are autistic. @bbceastenders.”
Fans were quick to defend the BBC soap and were left infuriated with how insensitive Sugar’s comments were towards the actor, as one fumed: “As an autistic person myself, watching the show I seek comfort in represent my community is such a great feeling @bbceastenders are smashing it as per usual, especially giving the opportunity to an autistic actor to play this role is amazing!”
Another added: “I think that it would be hard for an Autistic person with these specific Learning difficulties to play such a Role, so it’s great if it’s raising more awareness. I have 2 young adults with Learning disabilities, 1 who is moderate and 1 who has severe learning difficulties.”
“People with disabilities are woefully under-represented on screen. They deserve to be seen. They deserve to be portrayed. Otherwise, people will never learn not to refer to other people as ‘sad’ and ‘a step too far’,” a third expressed.
A fourth commented: “ASC doesn’t have the one image. It’s not really a step “too far”. Would love if he had some scenes with others with varying functionality. I like him. He shows the fundamentals like special interests.”
Someone else slammed: “Firstly the actor does have autism in real life and secondly, what is wrong with @bbceastenders highlighting the challenges that people with autism has and how it can impact their love ones.”
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A sixth expressed: “The actor is autistic. Autism can present in many ways & this is one of them. Maybe seeing an autistic actor portray autism in a realistic way is a bit too real for you. Would you rather a non-autistic actor did an unrealistic portrayal? Would that make you feel more comfortable?”
However, not all were against Sugar’s comments, as one agreed: “EastEnders only reason I WAS paying for my license but I cannot watch this go on.”
Another simply stated: “The poorest acting I’ve ever seen.”
