Two British sisters have been accused of “fetishing black men” after they admitted to visiting Gambia 15 times in eight years for “the Snoop Dogg lookalikes”.
Appearing on This Morning, Jackie Simpson, 63, and Julie Ramsey, 60 – who explained their “love of Bob Marley and reggae music” first drew them to the West African country – have been accused of “causing offence” over their remarks about young Gambian men.
Just weeks after the sisters were caught posing on the beach in bikinis next to men young enough to be their sons, the women have taken to ITV to defend their holiday habits.
Dubbed the “real-life Tinder dream for geriatrics” by Bake Off’s Prue Leith, Gambia is said to be an appealing fantasy for British grannies looking for romance.
“There’s so much candy in here it’s hard to control yourself, even at my age,” an eighty-something-year-old married woman admitted to our reporters. “What happens in Gambia, stays in Gambia.”
And while sisters Jackie and Julie from Lincolnshire tried to make things look better, telling Eamonn Holmes and Ruth Langsford that their love of reggae music first attracted them to the country, viewers were enraged by the “offensive” way they discussed young Gambian men.
“It’s the music – the nightlife is great,” Jackie said of her reasoning behind the trip. “I wanted to go because I like reggae music – Bob Marley – and it’s just great fun. It’s a proper woman’s holiday.”
This prospect alone left many viewers confused, suggesting that Jamaica may have been a better choice if they truly were looking for reggae, let alone their behaviour with men half their age.
One person wrote on Twitter: “She went to Gambia because of Bob Marley and reggae music? Did I just hear that, This Morning? Perhaps some cultural training and geography lessons are in order.”
The British ladies went on to talk about their exploits, with Jackie admitting that she’d had a three-year relationship with one of the young men she’d met in the west-African nation, leaving many blasting them for “fetishising black men”.
“Is no one else offended by how these grans are talking about Gambian men like they’re objects to be used at their disposal and for their pleasure,” one woman asked, as Jackie described her lovers.
“I’ve had a Gambian boyfriend and I’m still friends with him now,” Jackie admitted. “We kept in touch while I was away. I took him a guitar over to help him with his music.”
“You get all kinds of propositions,” Julie added. “All of the men say they are 36 years old, but they’re poor – and with us they get a nice meal and a few drinks.”
One viewer added: “I couldn’t image such a lighthearted atmosphere were this two 60 year old British men going off to Gambia to party with young women and buying them things…””Is no one else offended by how these grans are talking about Gambian men like they’re objects to be used at their disposal and for their pleasure,” one woman asked, as Jackie described her lovers.
“I’ve had a Gambian boyfriend and I’m still friends with him now,” Jackie admitted. “We kept in touch while I was away. I took him a guitar over to help him with his music.”
“You get all kinds of propositions,” Julie added. “All of the men say they are 36 years old, but they’re poor – and with us they get a nice meal and a few drinks.”
One viewer added: “I couldn’t image such a lighthearted atmosphere were this two 60 year old British men going off to Gambia to party with young women and buying them things…”
While another clapped back: “This is pure ignorance – ‘because they want to get to England’ and they are ‘poor’? Africa is one of the richest continents in resources that the Western world bleeds it dry of.”
The two women went on to reveal that the young men are interested in women even at “70 or 80”, and that they are obviously not attracted to these women, but it is a “fantasy”.
“I think they want to get to England,” Julie said when asked by Eamonn what she thinks drives these young men to pursue women often twice their age or more.
“I just tell them straight that they’ve got no chance of getting there,” Jackie agreed. “I told my Gambian boyfriend that there was no way I’d be able to get him [here].”
They continued to encourage Ruth to go on one of their holidays too, adding that she might find herself a “Tinie Tempah, Snoop Dogg and Will.I.Am”.
“Those poor Gambian men,” another viewer responded. “These women are using them, and letting themselves me used. It isn’t romantic or love, it’s manipulation.”
Jackie and Julie had an answer for this too, claiming to choose their Gambian lovers over their English equivalents due to their “gentlemanly” nature, with Jackie adding that British men could learn a few things from them.
“The men there don’t speak vulgar [things] to women,” she concluded. “Or shout down the street and walk around drunk. Probably because they’re so laid back on the weed.” (The Sun)
