Jeremy Vine branded 'patronising' for response to 'woke' definition

Jeremy Vine has been branded as 'patronising' over his controversial response to the definition of the word 'woke'.

The television broadcaster appeared on his Channel 5 show on Friday (31 March) and was joined by guest speaker, mental health campaigner Natasha Devon.

Vine has since been slammed for his 'condescending' approach to the conversation geared around social justice.

The pair spoke on a plethora of different socio-economic issues; from tourism tax in Wales to a gas bill price increase attached to the cost of living crisis.

They also touched on the use of one term in particular that has had a resurgence in mainstream media for the last few years now - despite it first being coined nearly one hundred years ago in the 1940s.

Vine told Devon how a few of his mates from university are 'woke'.

Devon then politely asked him what he personally understood by the term, saying: "Can I ask you to define what 'woke' is?"

After a few moments of spluttering, Vine responded: "Well, woke is, basically when you sort of, you know. You kind of read The Guardian and this and that, yeah."

Channel 5

Vine then used the term in an example sentence: "Your friends are all woke over there," he said, as he started laughing.

"I mean," he continued, "I'm woke about three or four days a week, to be fair."

"I love that for you," Devon replied, before explaining to the TV personality what the actual definition of the term is.

She said: "Woke is actually an African-American term meaning to be awake to injustice in society."

"It just means you’re not racist, homophobic or misogynist," she continued, "so I’d say you’re a woke person."

The term originally stemmed from African American Vernacular English (AAVE) but has since been co-opted by right-wing people to be used as an insult or pejorative mode of address similar to that of a 'snowflake'.

Vine was quick to disagree with the campaigner, immediately hitting back with: "Well, in your definition it means that, but not to everyone.

Channel 5

"That's the definition," Devon explained once again before Vine interrupted her, repeating: "Not to everyone. It's come to mean something else."

Vine's comments have since opened up a wider conversation on social media about the use of the word with many calling out the broadcaster for ignoring the origins of the the term.

The original clip from the show was taken down by the Jeremy Vine on Channel 5 Twitter page, but hundreds of thousands have since responded to various reposted videos of the 'shocking' exchange.

One Twitter user posted: "A White British man dismissively telling US what a word originated by African Americans and used by Black communities for decades means. The absolute GALL. LOL."

Absolutely Fabulous star Kathy Burke retweeted the post and added her reactions to Vine's belief that the term has 'come to mean something else'.

Twitter/@KathyBurke

"No it hasn’t," she wrote, "it’s just been hijacked by thicko’s and patronising old white men."

Hundreds of others agreed, with a third Twitter user commenting: "What a grim, patronising response."

Another chimed in with: "Listen to Jeremy Vine patronising Natasha Devon here and dismissing the actual meaning of 'woke'. It's breathtaking."

A fifth called it a 'shocking response', while a final Twitter user stated: "It’s the go to retaliation for those who would rather turn a blind eye or don’t want to be inconvenienced by progressive social change."