Lord Sugar apologised for his tweet, but claimed he was just trying to be funny (Picture: BBC)

In the wake of Danny Baker being fired by the BBC, an old tweet from Lord Alan Sugar is doing the rounds.

Last June, The Apprentice star sparked outrage when he posted a tweet about the Senegal World Cup football team which was accused of racism.

Lord Sugar, 72, tweeted a picture of the team with a blanket laid out and covered with sunglasses and handbags Photoshopped in front of them.

He wrote: ‘I recognise some of these guys from the beach in Marbella. Multi tasking resourceful chaps.’


The tweet was instantly branded racist by many, but Lord Sugar didn’t seem to get why it was offensive.



In response to one person who called the post ‘terrible’, he replied: ‘Why?’

He also tweeted: ‘I can’t see what I have to apologise for… you are OTT… it’s a bloody joke.’

Alan Sugar tweets about Senegal team

Lord Sugar soon deleted the post and wrote: ‘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.’

He later added: ‘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.’

The businessman did not receive any form of major punishment from the BBC, with a spokesperson saying: ‘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.’

However, after BBC Radio 5 Live sacked Danny Baker for a ‘racist’ tweet about the Royal Baby, social media has been flooded with questions about why Lord Sugar didn’t receive the same punishment, with the star’s name trending on Twitter.

Danny has been fired (Picture: Nick Edwards)

One tweet read: ‘As tiresome as the Justice for Danny Baker takes will be, there ARE questions for the BBC to answer. Chief among them – Why didn’t Alan Sugar get sacked for his blatant racist joke about the Senegal World Cup team last year?’

Another read: ‘Interesting that the BBC keep Alan Sugar on the payroll despite his racist tweets about the Senegal World Cup team but sack Danny Baker’, while one person wrote: ‘Glad the BBC showed some spine by sacking Danny Baker but why is Alan Sugar still the star of a flagship show?’

And Kelechi Okafor, who shared her thoughts on Danny Baker with Metro.co.uk, tweeted: ‘Wish BBC had this energy for Alan Sugar when he tweeted about the Senegalese football team but then I guess he wasn’t tweeting about a royal.’

Lord Sugar isn’t directly employed by the BBC, as The Apprentice is made by Fremantle Media.

However, three months after Lord Sugar’s tweet, the 14th series of The Apprentice began on BBC1.



BBC Radio 5 Live host Danny last night tweeted a picture of a couple holding hands with a chimpanzee, with the caption: ‘Royal baby leaves hospital.’

He deleted the tweet soon after, claiming only a ‘diseased mind’ would think of it as racist, but following his firing, Baker, 61, has said he understands why the BBC sacked him.

However, he was not impressed with the way they went about it, tweeting: ‘The call to fire me from @bbc5live was a masterclass of pompous faux-gravity. Took a tone that said I actually meant that ridiculous tweet and the BBC must uphold blah blah blah. Literally threw me under the bus. Could hear the suits knees knocking. #F***em.’

A BBC statement read: ‘This was a serious error of judgment and goes against the values we as a station aim to embody. Danny’s a brilliant broadcaster but will no longer be presenting a weekly show with us.’

Metro.co.uk has contacted Lord Sugar’s rep for comment.

When asked by Metro.co.uk about protocol on sackable offences, the BBC had nothing further to add.

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