Lord Sugar called out for "racist" tweet comparing Senegal World Cup team to "guys from the beach in Marbella" selling sunglasses
After initially defending his "joke", Lord Sugar has said he is "very sorry"
The Apprentice's Lord Sugar has issued a belated apology after coming under fire for his "offensive" tweet about the Senegalese World Cup football team.
In a now-deleted tweet, the businessman posted an image of Senegalese players (but not actually from Tuesday's match), with a blanket and rows of sunglasses and handbags photoshopped below it. He wrote: "I recognise some of these guys from the beach in Marbella. Multi-tasking resourceful chaps."
There was an immediate backlash...
https://twitter.com/BabitaBBC/status/1009377468866756613
https://twitter.com/OhsoDineo/status/1009387018030284800
https://twitter.com/walsh_maw19622/status/1009377405360844800
After around 20 minutes, Lord Sugar tweeted: "Just been reading the reaction to my funny tweet about the guy on the beach in Marbella. Seems it has been interpreted in the wrong way as offensive by a few people. Frankly I cant see that I think it's funny. But I will pull it down if you insist."
But after deleting the original, he carried on lashing out at critics. When BBC World News anchor Babita Sharma tweeted: "A shocking, vile tweet that you take a screen grab of because you know it will soon be deleted," he responded: "If it is so vile why have you retweeted it. You make me sick."
As his team presumably went into crisis management mode, Lord Sugar deleted his responses – and replaced them with a very different message: "I misjudged me earlier tweet. It was in no way intended to cause offence, and clearly my attempt at humour has backfired. I have deleted the tweet and am very sorry."
https://twitter.com/Lord_Sugar/status/1009390874797793280
But not everyone is convinced...
https://twitter.com/kelechnekoff/status/1009374895103528961
https://twitter.com/mckianzie/status/1009394348549722112
https://twitter.com/RussellCroutear/status/1009394175635263488
In a statement, the BBC said: "Lord Sugar has acknowledged this was a seriously misjudged tweet, and he’s in no doubt about our view on this. It’s right he’s apologised unreservedly."