Cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason has faced the wrath of social media this week following his appearance on Radio 4's Desert Island Discs. In his interview with the programme's host Lauren Laverne, Kanneh-Mason said that 'Rule, Britannia!' 'makes people uncomfortable' and shouldn't be sung at the Last Night of the Proms. The song has long been a controversial topic of debate, thanks to its associations with colonialism and slavery.
It's not the first time the song has been addressed in the mainstream media. In 2020, there was press speculation that the BBC would seek to quietly drop 'Rule, Britannia!' from its Last Night programming, following the murder of George Floyd and rise of the Black Lives Matter movement. The BBC then said it would be featuring orchestral-only versions, in line with Covid-19 restrictions – but reports at the time suggested that the lyrics were being dropped due to their associations with slavery. However, the performance ended up going ahead as planned, albeit with a small group of singers.
Kanneh-Mason was a soloist at the Last Night of the Proms last year, but in his Desert Island Discs interview he revealed he did not stay to hear 'Rule, Britannia!' being sung at the end of the concert.
'I don't think it should be included. I think maybe some people don't realise how uncomfortable a song like that can make a lot of people feel, even if it makes them feel good,' he said in the interview. 'I think that's somehow a big misunderstanding about it.'
The cellist believes that there is plenty of folk music that could stand in its place. 'There is so much wonderful British music: the wealth of folk music from this country is astonishing,' he said. 'I think that would be a wonderful thing to take its place. I think there's so much worth celebrating.'
Kanneh-Mason's mother Kadiatu spoke out against the abuse her son was receiving online following the interview.
It's not the first time Kadiatu Kanneh-Mason has spoken out about the racist abuse her children have received simply by playing music in the public eye. In 2023, Sheku's sister Isata Kanneh-Mason performed at the BBC Proms and was met by a racist social media post. Kadiatu Kanneh-Mason spoke to BBC Radio Nottingham after the event, saying, 'To have someone post that racist tweet, it was really hurtful. I think it pulled us all down to the ground again. When something like that happens it cuts you to the soul.'
