Romesh Ranganathan has revealed that an online troll branded his wife a “race traitor” for marrying the Celebrity Traitors star. The comedian, currently competing in the second season of the BBC series, said he receives racist messages every single day.
Racist message left wife 'incredibly upset'
Speaking at a show in New Malden, south London, the British-Sri Lankan star said his wife Leesa, whom he married in 2009, was targeted online because “you married one of them”. The message added: “You are no longer welcome among the whites.”
Romesh said the abuse left Leesa “incredibly upset”. He recalled his response: “I said, 'Here's my advice: look at our house. You've come over to the dark side, and it's working pretty f***ing well for you. Cry those tears into the swimming pool.'”
Family background and previous abuse
The comedian said he still felt bad about the message, adding: “She is upset now because she is married to me. That's not a nice thing to contend with.” He noted: “If she was married to a white guy, she wouldn't have got that message, but she also wouldn't have a pool.”
The pair met while working as teachers at Hazelwick School in Crawley, where she taught drama and he taught maths. They married in 2009 and share three children: Alex, 16, Theo, 14, and Charlie, 11.
Earlier this year, the comedian opened up about his sons suffering “abhorrent” racist abuse from other students at their school in West Sussex. He placed blame on the parents of the children involved, saying: “At a certain point, you've got to go, 'They're obviously hearing that at home'.” He added: “So whenever I see that, or I hear that a kid's done it, the next time I see their parents, I'm thinking 'you're racist', right? And that's a horrible thing.”
