The tweets that got Shila Iqbal fired from Emmerdale have been revealed
The historic tweets that got Shila Iqbal fired from Emmerdale have been revealed.
Iqbal has been fired from Emmerdale over the offensive tweets, the soap has confirmed.
The actress, who played Aiesha Richards on the show, was only made a series regular at the end of March. Iqbal was 19 when the tweets in question were posted in 2013.
The tweets revealed by MailOnline are part of a series of problematic messages posted by the actress and passed to ITV.
Read more: ‘Emmerdale’ fires Shila Iqbal from soap over offensive social media posts
In one tweet, she used the word ‘gay’ pejoratively. In another, she used the term ‘n*****’. The unearthed tweets reportedly outraged Emmerdale bosses.
The actress sent the tweets six years ago, when she was a teenager and attending college in Rochdale. Iqbal has apologised for her remarks and deleted her entire Twitter account.
MailOnline quotes an anonymous source as saying: “The nature of the banter that went on in Rochdale six years ago. That’s how everybody – straight, gay, all colours spoke.”
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Iqbal released an apologetic statement soon after the story broke: “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 only consideration I would ask is that I have recently received hateful tweets telling me that as a Muslim my Emmerdale role means that I am ‘committing sinful acts, promoting sin and deliberately going against the Quran.
“We live in sensitive times for members of all communities and especially those in multi-racial Rochdale where I grew up.
“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.”
