Sky under fire as viewers accuse contestant on Lee Mack show The Chop of having ‘Nazi tattoos’ on his face – but he says the number 88 represents the year his father died
- Carpenter Darren Lumsden is covered in face tattoos including the number 88
- The father of two is appearing on a new Sky History show called The Chop
- Viewers commenting on the 88 tattoo have said it is often used by neo Nazis
- Sky History claim the 88 figure is in memory of his late father who died in 1988
Sky History has defended a contestant on their new show The Chop after claims he has ‘Nazi tattoos’ on his face.
The Chop: Britain’s Top Woodworker, featuring comedian Lee Mack, invites carpenters to test out their skills to be crowned Britain’s best.
The channel yesterday tweeted a trailer in which Mack introduces contestant Darren Lumsden, with the title: ‘Meet the Woodman, the Bloke-With-All-The-Tattoos or Darren as we like to call him’.
Some viewers were quick to single out one of his tattoos – a prominent ’88’ on his cheek – which they took as a right-wing symbol.
They said the number 88 in white nationalist or neo -Nazi circles can be used as a code to represent ‘Heil Hitler’, because ‘H’ is the 8th letter of the alphabet.
However, the channel responded today saying ‘1988 is the year of his father’s death’ and that the tattoos ‘have no political or ideological meaning’.
Father-of-two Darren Lumsden from Bristol, pictured, is competing on Sky History’s new show The Chop: Britain’s Top Woodworker. However, a trailer for the show featuring Darren sparked protests when some viewers suggested the ’88’ on his face was a ‘neo Nazi tattoo’
Sky History released a short video featuring an interview between Mr Lumsden and show host Lee Mack where viewers noticed the tattoo
Mr Lumsden also has the figures 23 and 16 on his temples. These figures are also often used by the far right as a coded reference to White Power
The father-of-two, from Bristol is one of ten contestants on the show, which starts on Thursday, and is filmed in Epping Forest.
During their interview Lee Mack himself commented on the amount of ink on Mr Lumsden’s face after he introduced himself as ‘The Woodman’.
The comedian said: ‘If you were in my town, you wouldn’t be known as the woodman, you’d be known as the man with all the tattoos, surely they would take precedence.’
The interview was met with negative tweets, including one from Luke O’Riordan calling the channel ‘morons’ and asking: ‘Are you for real. The bloke has Nazi tattoos on his face ffs.’
Sky History said there was an innocent explanation for the number.
Sky History tweeted: ‘Darren’s tattoos denote significant events in his life and have no political or ideological meaning whatsoever. Amongst the various numerical tattoos on his body, 1988 is the year of his father’s death.
‘The production team carried out extensive background checks on all the woodworkers taking part in the show, that confirmed Darren has no affiliations or links to racist groups, views or comments.
‘Sky HISTORY is intolerant of racism and all forms of hatred and any use of symbols or numbers is entirely incidental and not meant to cause harm or offence. ‘
Many people on Twitter expressed concern about Mr Lumsden’s facial tattoos, including the 88 figure
Many people noticed the link between the figure 88 and white supremacist terminology though Sky History claim there is an innocent explanation
Sky History defended Mr Lumsden on Twitter claiming they have carried out extensive background checks and have found nothing to link him to any racist groups, views or comments
Sky History regularly features documentaries on the Second World War, such as Hitler’s Gold and Hitler’s Last Secrets.
Speaking to The Bristol Post on October 15, Mr Lumsden said: ‘About 10 years ago I saw someone with facial tattoos and started to work with my tattooist on my look.
‘I have my daughter on the back of my head and my son on my cheek.
‘When some people first meet me they are a bit shocked, admittedly.
‘But they soon warm to me after a few minutes.
‘Some people ask for selfies with me. I’ve never had a negative reaction to my tattoos. They are just me. I’ve already been stopped by people who have seen the adverts. No one went on the show to become famous.
‘But hopefully it will come across on the show that I’m a bit of a character.’