Romesh Ranganathan's sons faced 'horrible and abhorrent' racist abuse at school
Romesh Ranganathan has opened up about the racist abuse his and wife Lessa's sons, Alex, Theo and Charlie, have experienced at school.
Romesh Ranganathan's three children have faced "horrible and abhorrent" racist abuse at school.
The 48-year-old comedian's sons Alex, 16, Theo, 14, and Charlie, 11, whom he has with his 47-year-old wife Leesa, have been subjected to the same vile racism that he endured growing up in West Sussex, where the family still live - though he says that "it was worse back then".
On the latest episode of his and 47-year-old comic Tom Davis' Wolf and Owl podcast, Romesh - born to Sri Lankan Tamil parents - said: "The boys have had racist abuse. Not loads, not as much as I did, but they have had comments. We had a bit of an incident.
"One of the kids was chatting to a girl, just some friend at school, and one of the other kids said, 'I don't know why you're bothering to chat to her. You're going to end up marrying your cousin."
Romesh added: "Alex has had the P-word said to him when he's been walking around school."
Some of The Celebrity Traitors star's blame lies with the children's parents, saying: "At a certain point you've got to go, 'They're obviously hearing that at home.'
"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."
Romesh said while "racism is horrible and abhorrent", he thinks "it's a mistake to supercharge it".
The Weakest Link host continued: "What I mean by that is if somebody calls you a racial slur and it immediately ignites you, it gives that person power over you.
"I'm not saying you shouldn't react to racism, but I'm saying that immediately leading you to be violent is not something I want my kids to do."
Romesh shared he "got slurs thrown at me a fair bit" while he was growing up, adding: "I remember once I was walking out of school and like there was this kid that was sort of known for being racist just spat on me.
"Then at uni, it's happened a few times, I got jumped by skinheads when I was coming out of a club."
The entertainer's mum Shanthi, who stars with her son on his ITV game show Romesh Ranganathan's Parents' Evening, settled in Crawley, West Sussex, after leaving Sri Lanka for the UK with his dad Ranga when she was 19-years-old.
