Emmerdale star, 24, fired for teenage N-word tweets
ACTRESS Shila Iqbal has been fired from Emmerdale after racist tweets she sent as a teenager were found on her official Twitter account.
Miss Iqbal, who played Aiesha Richards on the ITV soap, made the comments containing the N-word in 2013 when she was a 19-year-old student.
As a result, Emmerdale bosses say they have decided not to renew her contract.
A spokesman said: ‘ The programme took the decision not to renew her contract as soon as these posts were brought to the company’s attention.’
Miss Iqbal, now 24, was a student in Rochdale when she posted the tweets. She has now deactivated her Twitter account. In a public apology, she admitted her use of the word was ‘completely wrong’.
She added in a statement: ‘I am terribly sorry and take full responsibility for my use of such inappropriate language.
‘I have paid the price and can no longer continue the job I loved the most at Emmerdale. Although I was young when I made the tweets, it was still completely wrong of me to do so and I sincerely apologise.’
The actress, who has also had roles in Lala’s Ladies and Citizen Khan, went on to say she had received ‘ hateful tweets’ herself from the Muslim community.
She said: ‘The only consideration I would ask is that I have recently received hateful tweets telling me that as a Muslim my Emmerdale role means I am “committing sinful acts, promoting sin and deliberately going against the Koran”.
‘We live in sensitive times for members of all communities and especially those in multi- racial Rochdale where I grew up.’ She added: ‘I regret that I too have let people down by the use of such language, albeit six years ago.
‘ I, like everyone else, have a responsibility about the language I have used on social media as well as in conversation.’ Miss Iqbal was confirmed as a permanent member of the cast only last month.
She said at the time: ‘I am over the moon to be back at Emmerdale as a regular. My family love Emmerdale and to be appearing in a show that you’ve grown up watching just feels like a dream!
‘Aiesha very much represents the new generation of social media fascination and her phone is her third hand. She is always camera-ready!
‘She speaks her mind, although it comes from a ditzy but good place for sure.’
Miss Iqbal’s sacking comes after ITV had to weather another racism storm in 2016 when Marc Anwar was fired from Coronation Street for a rant on Twitter.
The Pakistan-born actor had fired off a number of tweets against Indians, referring to them ‘b******s’.
‘I’ve let people down’