Paul Chowdhry on the racial abuse he received growing up

Paul Chowdhry has spoken about how racists savagely attacked his father with a knife as prejudice ran rampant in the 1980s.

‘He took quite a few stitches to the face,’ the comedian told Gaby Roslin on her podcast. ‘There was a knife attack, the people were never caught. But he got on with it, he never held grudges.’

Without going into detail, he added: ‘I’ve been attacked, lots of stuff has happened to me, but you can’t let it affect you, you know it’s a part of human nature, some of the darker sides.’

In a previous interview, Chowdhry told how a gang attacked his father as he was coming home from a night out with his brothers. He was stabbed in the face and had to have 50 stitches, but the comic said: ‘The police didn’t do anything.’

Chowdhry has also previously told of how he was beaten up by skinheads as a teacher.

And in the Gaby Roslin podcast, which will be released on Monday, he says: ‘We didn’t even consider it disgusting, it was normality.

‘To us, or ethnic minority groups in England in the 1980s and the 1970s and even the 1990s to a degree, and to some extent now… it was normal to get spat on, get racial abuse, people shout out racial slurs at you,.

‘There would be attacks, we’d just get on with it. But now it would be headline news, it would be trending on Twitter, but it was normal then.’

‘A lot of people didn’t want immigration and diversity in England at the time, and they still don’t, but back then it was much more open and accepted that you either want them here or you don’t want them here and if you didn’t want them here you’d tell them in the street, you’d tell them to their faces, you wouldn’t go to the politicians, you’d actually go to the source.'

In the interview, Chowdhry also praised the black community for being vocal in challenging racism, and wished other groups would follow suit.

He said: ‘It’s great the strides the black community have made, I think it’s incredible and they’re very outspoken within their communities when injustice is done.

‘If other races were as open about it there would probably be more progress."

• That Gaby Roslin Podcast is available on all podcast streaming platforms with new episodes released every Monday.

• Chowdhry resumes his Family Friendly Comedian stand-up tour in October. Paul Chowdhry tour dates.

Published: 27 Apr 2022