- Saturday, March 01, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
Renowned British Sri Lankan broadcaster Nihal Arthanayake has complained to police that he was racially abused outside a pub, MailOnline said in an exclusive report.
The 51-year-old BBC presenter went to Stretford police station in Manchester last week to inform officers how an unidentified drinker described him using P- and N-words.
Not the first person from Altrincham that has blamed me for being racially abused because I decided to strike up a conversation with a stranger. https://t.co/f1rut5R0Ik
— Nihal Arthanayake ?️?????????????? (@TherealNihal) May 6, 2023
Arthanayake said he wanted to ensure that no other person of colour had to experience the race hate of the person who allegedly insulted him.
He was allegedly abused racially outside a pub in Altrincham on Friday (5) evening. The host of BBC Radio Five afternoon talk show was waiting for his wife after an evening out together.
In a video on Twitter, he said he didn’t really know what had happened. He added that while waiting for his wife, he saw the person and approached him to have a talk. He said the latter, who he called a ‘kind of drunk man’, agreed.
“We got talking and he said “oh are you a doctor?” So I started laughing because it’s a question as an Asian you might get asked. And I went “Well why would you ask that?”
“And he said “Well, because you’re a p***”. And then he went “oh I guess I can’t say p***” then he said the n-word! Then he kind of looked at me and was like “oh sorry, you’re offended aren’t you?” And I said “well why did you say that word?” He said “I’m sorry I’m a massive…” and used the c-word,” he was quoted as saying by MailOnline.
‘I said “You’re not a massive c-word, you’re just an average one. Dictators are massive c-words, you’re just an average one.” It was so weird. But you know when you come to some of these areas, I think there’s just some people who still think they can say that word,” he added.
Arthanayake told MailOnline that he would not give up to get the racist person arrested. However, he was also shocked by fresh racist abuse from strangers online that he found after posting the incident outside the pub.
He told the news outlet that a small group of racists started to gaslight him online and said such things had never happened. He also said that some amateur human behaviourists claimed that his body language in the video showed that he was lying.
Arthanayake said he was encouraged that Greater Manchester Police were hunting the racist person he met at the pub and would take up the issue of Twitter abuse with officers.
He added that he received a huge support from friends, colleagues and people from across the social media.
