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BBC stars Greg James and Chris Smith have been accused of ableism after asking the illustrator of their new follow-up book to Roald Dahl’s ‘The Twits’ to give a character a glass eye to make her ‘more disgusting’.
Radio 1 DJ James and his former newsreader Smith are among 13 authors commissioned to write new stories based on Dahl’s beloved characters.
The pair – who have written children’s books before – said the opportunity to write The Twits Next Door, based on the 1980 novel The Twits, was ‘too good to resist’.
But the BBC duo have been condemned by a blind charity and other celebrities after they said adding a glass eye would make a character more ‘disgusting’. Puffin Books, which has 65,000 followers, hastily deleted the video after the outrage but has not given an explanation.
In a promotional video for the book, James and Smith are seen helping illustrator Emily Jones put the finishing touches on the characters.
As they discuss how to make the characters more revolting, the illustrator asks the pair: ‘What about a glass eye?’
James responds ‘A glass eye!’ before Smith adds: ‘She needs a glass eye. That’s it. What a disgusting pair of Twits!’
It comes a year after it was revealed that Puffin had hired sensitivity readers to rewrite chunks of Dahl’s text to make sure the books ‘can continue to be enjoyed by all today’, resulting in extensive changes across the author’s work.
A host of changes included Mrs Twit’s ‘fearful ugliness’ being chopped to ‘ugliness’.
The video has sparked a major backlash with Paralympian Tanni Grey-Thompson commenting: ‘Thanks. Thanks very much. #sarcasm. I’d hoped the world had moved on.’
The Royal National Institute of Blind People told MailOnline: ‘When there’s positive representation of disabilities in children’s books, a truly wonderful thing happens – children with disabilities feel seen and heard, and their friends and classmates treat everyone the same. There is nothing at all revolting about prosthetic eyes, we think they’re brilliant.
‘We strongly urge all authors, illustrators, or publishers to think about the influence they have and the role they can play in encouraging acceptance and understanding of disabilities, both visible and invisible, especially for children with vision impairments.’
Ed Finch posted: ‘This is a real mistake. I would take it down now. Having taught more than one child with a prosthetic eye – and with other eye conditions- I know that the very last thing they need is for a respected adult to be saying that their disability is ‘disgusting’.
Another user, Nic, replied: ‘Agree completely, my son (now an adult) is registered blind and his eyes look different due to his condition and many surgeries, would be furious with anyone saying they’re disgusting, this is very wrong.’
Author Richard O’Neill wrote: ‘As someone with a serious eye problem, this is just awful. Worse for children. But no doubt it’ll win an award.’
Ruth Murran posted: ‘The most appalling thing I’ve ever seen from a children’s publisher. I grew up with 1970s stories that often contained worrying messages for a disabled person like me but, fifty years on, they have far surpassed that discrimination and damage. How did nobody notice before this?’
James and Smith have previously partnered up to publish a successful children’s book series called Kid Normal.
In a statement, they told the BBC: ‘To be offered the opportunity to write a story starring the most revolting and hilarious pair of his famous characters was exciting, a little bit frightening and certainly too good to resist.
‘We’ve had such a great time playing with The Twits.’
The story, which will be published in August, will see the Twits attempt to get rid of their new neighbours called the Lovelies.
Other celebrities that have been commissioned to write stories include presenter Konnie Huq, The Last Leg comedian Adam Hills and former doctor
Puffin said they hoped the books would bring new readers to Dahl’s famous works.
Last year, the Telegraph revealed that his beloved children’s books are being rewritten by sensitivity gurus to remove language they deem offensive.
Considerable edits have been made to descriptions of the characters’ physical appearance – the new editions no longer use the word ‘fat’ which has been cut from every book.
Augustus Gloop in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory can now only be described as ‘enormous’.
Hundreds of changes were made to the original text, extinguishing Dahl’s colourful and memorable descriptions, some over fifty years old, to make his characters less grotesque.
Gender is also eliminated with books no longer referring to ‘female’ characters.
Miss Trunchbull in Matilda, once a ‘most formidable female’, is now a ‘most formidable woman’, while her ‘great horsey face’ is now called ‘her face’.
Oompa-Loompas who were once ‘small men’ are now ‘small people’ and Fantastic Mr Fox’s three sons have become daughters.
Puffin Books, Greg James and Chris Smith have been approached for comment.
