Huh???

Struggling to see how the line "I have more roots than Kunta Kinte" which was apparently said by a character in Coronation Street the other day, is racist.  A lot of people have taken objection to it on that ground and Ofcom is looking into it.  As far as I can see, the only reason it could be considered racist is on the basis that Kunta Kinte (who by the way was a completely fictitious character in another TV series) was a black man.  And presumably, there are those who consider that making a joke (or a pun, or whatever you want to call it) about a black man is racist.  The question is - should we really be taking such people seriously? And by the way - how on earth did the original writers and producers get away with the name Kunta Kinte?