Strictly Come Dancing judge Motsi Mabuse has hit back at critics who claim she only landed the job on the show 'because she’s black’.
The South African dancer, 42, also discussed why she thinks people need to stop ‘labelling’ others as she opened up on the racism she still faces. Motsi has been a judge on Strictly since 2019 and has joined Shirley Ballas, Anton Du Beke and Craig Revel Horwood on the panel for this year's series.
She previously appeared on the German dance competition Let's Dance, first as a professional dancer in 2007, and later as a judge – a position she has held since 2011. Meanwhile, her sister Oti Mabuse was a professional dancer on Strictly between 2015 and 2021.
Speaking on the podcast Reign with Josh Smith about doubts over her selection to be a Strictly judge, Motsi said: “What I really, really, really, really dislike is when people are like, 'she got it because she's black’. It takes away from every black woman and in my example, it takes away my experience.
“It takes away my quality. It takes away everything that I have been through and marched on through to be there.”
She went on to express her views about people being celebrated as ‘firsts’, which in her opinion shows how non inclusive society currently is.
She added: “When you just see the label, 'oh she's black, you know the first Strictly black judge, the first this,' it takes away 15 years of experience as a judge. It takes away 30 years of my experience as a dancer.
“Maybe my experience as a dancer is not your experience, but maybe my growth coming from South Africa and going through all levels is a different kind of experience, which gives me a different side of the ball.”
Discussing the need for people to stop labelling others, Motsi added: “I think the barrier that I think we most definitely all have to overcome is to stop the labels."
She went on: “Everything needs to become a normality without saying, 'oh my gosh, we've got one black person, we've got a same sex couple, we've got this,' the labels, this is what we all really need to get over.
“We need to just say, 'that this is life’. We're not breaking barriers if we're suddenly including people, it shows how not inclusive we were before.”
She went on to discuss the racism she faced while travelling – including one occasion when a man challenged her in an airport for standing in the European/German passports queue because of the colour of her skin.
She said: “He looked at my skin and was like, 'she's not – this is not Europe’. And you face stuff like this.”
Meanwhile Motis recently sweetly discussed dancing with her husband, Ukrainian dancer Evgenij Voznyuk, who she renewed her vows to earlier this year. She was asked which one dance she would do if she was only able to do one for the rest of her life – and she replied: “Probably the Rumba because that means I get to dance with my husband all my life.”
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