The annual alleged comedy charity appeal airs tonight on the Beeb. The usual lefty, woke, gimme a job `celebrities` will taking part.

Will you be watching/donating?

I certainly won't be as I'm a privileged Whitey with, according to Lenny Henry and David Lammy a white saviour attitude. The whole sorry affair can get stuffed as far as I'm concerned, the so-called charity is sitting on millions stored in the bank and not being used for what it is intended. Add to that, the `stars` taking part in this annual woke-fest will be paid handsomely for their feeble efforts.

Once again, my donations will be going to the local Kirkwood Hospice and West Yorkshire's Forget-Me-Not children's hospice.

Not since i saw, many years ago on Comic Relief, a presenter in one of the local regions going round the crowd with a bucket, cajoling people into parting with their money. Lots of children at first, then there was this fellow that she talked to, asked him what he did and he said he was a teacher - he had just put a tenner in the bucket. "Oh come on", she said, "surely you can do better than a measly tenner!" And I'm going back about 25 years here, when actually a tenner was a considerable donation to make. A thank you would have been nice, not to mention a good example to all the children there.

That finished it for me.

No and no. We have our own favourite charities we make regular donations to. BTW, I thought that everyone taking part donated their fees to the cause.

There has been some concern about the lack of gender equality in the causes supported by Comic Relief, with much funding going to politicised women's charities or charities focusing on women. Writing in The Spectator, Ross Clark raised the question, 'Why do all these women's charities...feel the need to disguise their fundraising in the prat-fest that is Comic Relief, rather than appealing directly to the public?' He added, 'Are they worried that if the British public realised where their money was going, they would be less inclined to be so generous?'

The British Stammering Association criticised comedian Lenny Henry over his opening sketch for the 2011 telethon, during which he spoofed the film The King's Speech and grew impatient with Colin Firth in his portrayal of King George VI as he stammered over his speech. The Sun reported that the British Stammering Association had branded the sketch as 'a gross and disgusting gleefulness at pointing out someone else's misfortune'.

In December 2013, an edition of the BBC One series Panorama pointed out that between 2007 and 2009, millions of pounds donated to Comic Relief had been invested in funds which appeared 'to contradict several of its core aims', with shares in tobacco, alcohol and arms firms.

The 2017 event was negatively received by viewers, with many criticising it for its various technical problems, poor sound, unfunny sketches and inappropriate jokes such as comedian Russell Brand yelling '****ing hell' after the broadcast cut off due to a technical fault, two sketches shown before the 9 pm watershed (one in which comedian Vic Reeves showed a fake penis to Good Morning Britain presenter Susanna Reid, and another in which actor Brendan O'Carroll, playing his character Agnes Brown, showed the V sign) and a scene in which presenter Graham Norton asks model Cara Delevingne why she had sex on a plane.

In the same year, a video featuring Ed Sheeran meeting and rescuing a child in Liberia for Comic Relief was criticised as 'poverty porn' and was given the 'Rusty Radiator' award for the 'most offensive and stereotypical fundraising video of the year'.

Writing in The Guardian in 2017, Labour MP David Lammy argued that Comic Relief perpetuated problematic stereotypes of Africa, and that they had a responsibility to use its powerful position to move the debate on in a more constructive way by establishing an image of African people as equals.

In 2018, in response to Lammy's comments and the backlash to Sheeran's video, Comic Relief announced they would take steps towards change by halting their use of celebrities for appeals.

However, in February 2019, Lammy also criticised Stacey Dooley for posting on social media about her trip to Uganda for Comic Relief, saying that 'the world does not need any more white saviours', and that she was perpetuating 'tired and unhelpful stereotypes' about Africa. The pressure group 'No White Saviours' argued that Comic Relief had pledged to make changes to their celebrity campaigns in the past, and now needed to put them into practice.

The remarks by Lammy were believed to have damaged coverage of Red Nose Day; viewership dropped and the donations received for the broadcast in March 2019 fell by £8 million and the money raised that year was the lowest since 2007. In 2020, as a result of Lammy's intervention, Comic Relief announced that it would no longer send celebrities to Africa nor portray Africa with images of starving people or critically ill children. Instead, they would be using local film makers to provide a more “authentic” perspective and give agency back to African people.