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Alan Sugar blasted for ‘racist’ tweet comparing Senegal World Cup team to street traders

20 Jun, 2018 13:13
Alan Sugar blasted for ‘racist’ tweet comparing Senegal World Cup team to street traders
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Lord Alan Sugar in House of Lords garb © Paul Edwards / AFP

Lord Alan Sugar, the businessman once at the helm of the UK version of ‘The Apprentice’ TV show, has been condemned online for posting a controversial tweet about the Senegal World Cup team.

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Sugar posted a photoshopped image of the team standing over a row of sunglasses and handbags along with the caption: “I recognise some of these guys from the beach in Marbella. Multi-tasking resourceful chaps.” The line is seemingly a reference to immigrant street-traders operating around Marbella, the resort town on southern Spain’s Costa del Sol.

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The post was soon deleted after a number of people took offence, but Sugar was unrepentant. In what could only be described as a classic ‘non-apology apology,’ he said: “I think it’s funny. But I will pull it down if you insist.”

That tweet has also been deleted. A second apology, this one more solemn in tone, was posted to Twitter an hour later.

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The tweet was met with fury on Twitter, as commentators compared Sugar’s comments to past ‘Apprentice’ alumni, while a few lone voices have offered some defense of the former Tottenham Hotspur chairman.