Craig David needs to let go of 'Bo Selecta!', says Leigh Francis

Leigh Francis has said Craig David needs to stop talking about Bo' Selecta! if he wants to move on.

The Celebrity Juice star has apologised to the Re-Rewind singer for impersonating him in the Channel 4 sketch show, but David recently called the series a "vendetta" against him that was "bullying" and "racist".

Francis, aka Keith Lemon, has now told The Sun: "Most people are happy with their portrayal on Bo’ Selecta!. Apart from someone we know who wasn’t.

Read more: Craig David calls Bo' Selecta! impression 'racist' and 'bullying'

"The only way it’s ever going to go away from him, if he feels people are going on about it, is to stop talking about it.

"It’s ages ago, isn’t it? It is, 20 years ago. I wish he wasn’t upset."

The 49-year-old TV star said he thought he had made peace with David, 41, at mutual friend Fearne Cotton's wedding in 2014.

He added: "I bumped into him at Fearne’s wedding and we hugged it out and everything was all nice.”

The Seven Days singer recently said in an interview with The Times: "It felt like a vendetta and when it got a following, it became something that affected me.

"People would shout at me on the street and I felt the same feeling I had when I was bullied at school. Leigh Francis had normalised bullying by making it comedy."

David then said: "When he put blackface on, that was being racist."

Francis issued a public apology in 2020 to David, Mel B and Trisha Goddard for his impressions of them on the comedy show which saw him don prosthetic make-up in parody sketches about celebrities.

Francis also said: "Back in 2002, I did a show called Bo' Selecta, I portrayed many Black people. Back then I didn't think anything about it, people didn't say anything- I'm not going to blame other people. I've been talking to some people. I didn't realise how offensive it was back then.

"I just want to apologise, I just want to say sorry for any upset I caused whether I was Michael Jackson, Craig David, Trisha Goddard, all people I'm a big fan of. I guess we're all on a learning journey."

Read more: Lorraine Kelly slams 'cruel' and 'distasteful' portrayal of her in Bo' Selecta!

David has previously called Francis' apology "insincere" and criticised him for timing it during the Black Lives Matter protests.

Watch: John Barnes defended comedian Leigh Francis after he apologised for Bo' Selecta!