Ade Adepitan - ‘At 16 I’d seen more violence than anyone should ever see’

Aug 14, 2024

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TW: contains references to racist abuse and racially-aggravated violence.

This is probably one of my favourite episodes of all time, and I don’t say that lightly. The former championship wheelchair basketball star turned TV presenter, Ade Adepitan, came into the How To Fail studio with an open heart and a moving story to tell. He blew us all away.

Ade talks about growing up working-class, Black and disabled and how the intersection of these left him feeling he had to prove himself twice as much. He talks about letting his parents down and a family estrangement that lasted 10 years. We chat about the impact of leaving Nigeria, aged three, and how that has continued to shape his outlook on life and we talk about his own self-perceived failure to protect his friend from a racist attack as a teenager - and how what happened changed all their lives. We also talk about a 2005 BBC documentary where he broke down in front of cameras while trying to climb a volcano and his fear that he had let himself and the disabled community down. AND - in a first for How To Fail -his failure to take a compliment

You can catch Ade presenting Channel 4’s coverage of the Paralympic Games this summer.

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