AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
As the summer vacation was wrapping up, a Scottish teacher posted this video on TikTok.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
TORGI SQUIRE: Explain to me why Scottish school holidays are a bit of a washout, right? It's been all right this year, but it's been a bit of a washout.
RASCOE: Torgi Squire was having a mild rant about the state of the weather and signed off by saying...
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SQUIRE: Anyway, hope you're all having a belter of a day. Catch yous.
RASCOE: A few days later, the video had millions of views, hundreds of thousands of likes and tens of thousands of comments. The reason - apart from the cute accent - is that Squire is Black. It seems many Americans were surprised to hear a Black man speak with a Scottish accent. Torgi Squire joins us now from the city of Glasgow. Welcome to the show.
SQUIRE: Thank you, Ayesha. What a welcome. It's so funny hearing my video played back again.
(LAUGHTER)
RASCOE: Yeah. Well, I mean, 'cause - like, how shocked were you by the reaction? Like, when did you realize, like, oh, this is really taking off?
SQUIRE: You know, it got to maybe 24 or 48 hours after I posted the video, and I actually had to turn my notifications off...
RASCOE: Oh, my goodness.
SQUIRE: ...Because my phone was just blowing up crazy.
RASCOE: Well, have you ever experienced this kind of reaction from people before who are not from Scotland? Like, they see you - a tourist or something see you and they kind of react?
SQUIRE: Well, do you know - it's funny. No matter where I go, some people will react, and it's quite calm. They'll say, what is that accent? Is that Irish? Is it Welsh? But I was in Barbados, where my mom is from, last summer, and a woman called me a unicorn. That was the first time I'd ever been called that. She...
RASCOE: (Laughter).
SQUIRE: ...Said, you are a unicorn - Black and Scottish. I've never seen this.
RASCOE: So you have gotten a reaction before, but just not on this level.
SQUIRE: Not to the scale that Black America came through in the comments.
RASCOE: (Laughter).
SQUIRE: And it's been crazy ever since.
RASCOE: What are you thinking of us?
SQUIRE: I love it. I mean, we consume a lot of American culture here, whether you're Black or white and Scottish, but I certainly immerse myself in Black comedy. It was always - growing up, it was "The Fresh Prince," and then after that it was "My Wife And Kids." I'm really showing my age here. But it's been amazing to see, to be embraced like that from the other side of the world with people calling you, you're our cousin now; you're Cousin, and supporting the things that I've done. And going back into the old posts, I've done cultural videos about the differences about being Black and Scottish and the similarities. So it's amazing to see the Americans' take on things, and I love that. I love it.
RASCOE: Well, what's a diffferent - what's one difference that you pointed out in some old videos about being Black in Scotland versus being Black in America?
SQUIRE: I could go days, weeks and months without seeing another Black person if I don't visit my immediate family. I could...
RASCOE: Oh, OK. Yes (laughter).
SQUIRE: Now, if I'm in a city, it's different. There is a growing Black population. But if I went outside of the city, somewhere quite remote, I could - honestly, I could not see another Black face.
RASCOE: Yeah. Well, I mean, ultimately, I guess, from this experience, like, what's one thing that you want people to know, I guess, about Black people in Scotland, but also to know about you?
SQUIRE: I want people to know that Black people in Scotland probably aren't dissimilar to Black people in America. I mean, our experiences of growing up and racism are probably very alike, but on a much smaller scale. I could probably count on both hands, in 44 years of life on this Earth, the number of times I've been openly involved in a racist incident directed towards me. And that's - I don't know. Could a lot of Americans say the same thing?
And, you know, so that - there's similarities and there's differences. Whilst I still live in a very small Black population, for the most part, it's very, very welcoming. And I can only speak from my experience, but it's certainly been more positive than negative. But I also want Americans to know that they're so welcome here. I mean, Scotland is throwing its arms open to Black America. I mean, we would love - we're getting a big cousins' reunion planned for August next year. I have never been to a cookout.
RASCOE: You never been to a cookout?
SQUIRE: So we call them barbecues here.
RASCOE: Oh, yeah.
SQUIRE: But I've never been to a cookout, and I need to experience that.
RASCOE: (Laughter) You got to get to the cookout.
Well, that is wonderful. That's social media sensation Torgi Squire. Thank you for joining us.
SQUIRE: Thank you so much for having me on.
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