‘Monkey’ not a racist term, tribunal rules

The word “monkey” is not inherently racist, an employment judge has ruled.

Moujahid Adam, a care home worker, sued Community Integrated Care for race discrimination after a resident regularly talked about visiting “Monkey World” in front of him.

Mr Adam, who is black, argued the “difficult” resident was racist as she regularly talked to him about visiting the popular ape rescue centre, claiming the woman knew the word “monkey” was offensive to black people.

He argued it is a discriminatory term “regardless of the context”. But an employment tribunal in Liverpool has rejected his argument – ruling the word “monkey” is not racist “in itself ”.