Coronation Street director dropped after ‘disgraceful’ comments about racism emerge

ITV will no longer work with a regular director of Coronation Street after being made aware that he posted a series of comments on social media denouncing concerns of racism.

Freelance director Steve Finn, who has worked on the soap opera for the last two years and contributed to the Christmas Day episode, hit out at TV historian David Olusoga and actor and director Noel Clarke on Facebook, according to HuffPost.

The director also dismissed a BBC Bitesize video about white privilege and questioned whether structural racism contributes to the disproportionate impact of the coronavirus on Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic communities.

The broadcaster said Finn had published social media posts that were “inconsistent with the values of both Coronation Street and ITV” and confirmed the director “will not therefore be returning”.

In one of Finn’s Facebook posts, he made fun of Olusoga after the presenter told the Edinburgh TV Festival that being marginalised in his career resulted in him feeling “crushed, isolated” and “disempowered”.

In response, the former Coronation Street director wrote: “Oh poor dear, so crushed by his success on the unenlightened British media. Could I get just a tenth of his salary for making programmes which people actually watch, as he is so crushed.”

Finn claimed that he had “not seen one instance of racism” during four decades working in the industry and disputed concerns as being the “fabrication of fashionable claims”.

He added that people now want to "ride the racism high-horse to maximum effect”.

In a separate comment, Finn said: “People like Olusaga [sic] are victim-making frauds and need to be called out.”

The director also hit out at Noel Clarke, branding him a “f***tard”, when the Kidulthood and Doctor Who star told the BBC what happened when he asked for a more diverse production crew when shooting a show.

Olusoga and Clarke responded to the revelations on social media.

Others also reacted with disgust online.

Finn directed Monday’s episode of Coronation Street and contributed to other scenes airing this week.

He previously directed EastEnders episodes between 1995 and 2018 and has also worked on other hit shows such as The Bill, Hollyoaks and Casualty.

indy100 has attempted to contact Steve Finn for comment.