newsbeat
The tweets were sent at the end of Black History Month

The BBC has come under fire for tweeting a series of videos including one asking "Black people and fried chicken – is there any truth in it?" to mark the end of Black History month.

The video, sent on the BBC Newsbeat account, was part of a campaign looking into certain types of stereotypes facing Black British people.

In the videos, both black and white people were asked their views on stereotypes surrounding black people, including whether black people like chicken more than others, the "myths around swimming and being black" and asking "if it's ever OK for white people to use the n-word?"

During the one minute videos, one while woman suggests that black women like to eat chicken as "apparently it makes your bum bigger" and a white man adding "you don't see that many black people swimming".

The BBC Newsbeat later changed the wording of one of the tweets to ask "Black people like chicken more than others – myth or reality" following outcry on social media, with the corporation accused of "treating a racist stereotype like some kind or reasonable discussion point."

The videos were part of an advertising campaign for the Newsbeat documentary That Black British Feeling, looking at how the Black Lives Matter protests came to feature in the UK.

A BBC spokesperson said: "These short films show young people from various backgrounds discussing their experiences of dealing with different stereotypes, which accompanies a wider documentary looking at racism in the UK."