Mrluvaluva
06-10-2013, 06:32 PM
Lord Sugar has been investigated by police after he was accused of posting a racist tweet.
The Apprentice star posted a picture of a crying Chinese child dressed in a watermelon costume and joked: "The kid in the middle is upset because he was told off for leaving the production line of the iPhone 5."
Nichola Szeto, from Liverpool, was offended by the reference to the Asian factories where the phones are made and put in a complaint to police.
She was then contacted by Merseyside Police and went to a Liverpool station to make a statement.
The force's specialist hate crime investigation team decided that the tweet should be classed as a "hate incident", although no crime had taken place.
A police spokesman said: "Merseyside Police can confirm officers received a complaint in relation to the tweet sent on the evening of Sunday September 30.
"The communication has been examined by the force's specialist hate crime investigation team and at this time it has been recorded as a hate incident and no criminal offences have taken place.
"Officers from the specialist team will be contacting the person who made the initial complaint to discuss this."
In a blog post, Ms Szeto - of mixed Chinese and English heritage - said she had complained online and had "no idea it would be taken so seriously".
Lord Sugar, who has 3.2 million followers on the social network, has yet to tweet a response to the police investigation.
Sky (http://news.sky.com/story/1150944/lord-sugar-investigated-over-hate-tweet)
Ridiculous. Some people have got nothing better to do. I can't even see why they're entertaining the complaint?
The Apprentice star posted a picture of a crying Chinese child dressed in a watermelon costume and joked: "The kid in the middle is upset because he was told off for leaving the production line of the iPhone 5."
Nichola Szeto, from Liverpool, was offended by the reference to the Asian factories where the phones are made and put in a complaint to police.
She was then contacted by Merseyside Police and went to a Liverpool station to make a statement.
The force's specialist hate crime investigation team decided that the tweet should be classed as a "hate incident", although no crime had taken place.
A police spokesman said: "Merseyside Police can confirm officers received a complaint in relation to the tweet sent on the evening of Sunday September 30.
"The communication has been examined by the force's specialist hate crime investigation team and at this time it has been recorded as a hate incident and no criminal offences have taken place.
"Officers from the specialist team will be contacting the person who made the initial complaint to discuss this."
In a blog post, Ms Szeto - of mixed Chinese and English heritage - said she had complained online and had "no idea it would be taken so seriously".
Lord Sugar, who has 3.2 million followers on the social network, has yet to tweet a response to the police investigation.
Sky (http://news.sky.com/story/1150944/lord-sugar-investigated-over-hate-tweet)
Ridiculous. Some people have got nothing better to do. I can't even see why they're entertaining the complaint?