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Police investigated Lord Sugar after a woman claimed a tweet he sent was racist.

The tycoon posted a photo of a Chinese boy wearing shorts made from watermelons, which went viral on China's equivalent of Twitter in August.

In a reference to one of the pictures showing the boy crying, Sugar joked:  "The kid in the middle is upset because he was told off for leaving the production line of the iPhone 5."

Nichola Szeto was apparently contacted by police after she made a complaint on the social media site: ‘Everyone have a look at @Lord_Sugar racist tweets.  My family are chinese you horrible t[***]. I thought Racism was illegal @metpoliceuk.’

According to the Mail on Sunday, Ms Szeto, from Liverpool, gave a statement to Merseyside police after they requested one from her.

Police analysed the tweet and came to the conclusion that because it was considered a ‘hate incident’ no further action would be taken.

Ms Szeto said: ‘I told the police I just wanted to let him know it was wrong.

‘They said they take this very seriously, but I said, “just leave it, I’ve complained now.” But they phoned back so I went to see them.’

The TaxPayers’ Alliance condemned the ‘wasting of police time’ and said that officers shouldn’t be ‘chasing every ill-thought-out tweet’.

Ms Szeto defended her actions in an extended tweet this afternoon directed at Lord Sugar : ‘I am of mixed English/Chinese heritage & my partner & children are chinese. What you wrote did offend me. I am not sorry for voicing my opinion because you would have done exactly the same if you were me.

‘Did I over react? Yes I probably did.’

Replies sorted oldest to newest

Link to Citizens Advice Bureau on what is considered to be a hate incident which is not automatically a hate crime.

http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/...s_and_hate_crime.htm

A hate incident is where the victim or someone else thinks that something has been motivated by hostility or prejudice. That covers racism and other things.

As Ms Szeto thinks that Sugar's tweet is racist the police have to record it as a hate incident.

Although hate incidents can also be hate crimes the police would have to believe that a criminal offence had taken place for this to be a hate crime. It's hard to see how this can be regarded as criminal.

 

El Loro
Originally Posted by Soozy Woo:
Originally Posted by Saint:

Was this racist or hate in your view?

Would it be very wrong of me to say neither?

 

I thought it was quite witty.

me too Soozy - I feel this lady wanted to make a name for herself rather than took any office   I'd have exploded if I took offence to every Irish joke I've heard and my God there's thousands of them

FM
Originally Posted by Mount Olympus *Olly*:

am I going mad? I thought the tweet was a dig at apple for using cheap Chinese labour. . [dunno if they do]  not a racist dig at all, just a 'hate' dig at apple if anyone..

that is exactly how I took it Olly when I read it but this woman has decided (imo) to make a name for herself by taking offence and making this a race issue

FM
Originally Posted by Soozy Woo:
Originally Posted by Saint:

Was this racist or hate in your view?

Would it be very wrong of me to say neither?

 

I thought it was quite witty.

Nope! A bit of an OTT reaction tbh.

Jen-Star
Originally Posted by Mount Olympus *Olly*:

am I going mad? I thought the tweet was a dig at apple for using cheap Chinese labour. . [dunno if they do]  not a racist dig at all, just a 'hate' dig at apple if anyone..

Yes, came across to me as a dig at the use of cheap labour. The only real hate I see here is in this woman's tweet.

Extremely Fluffy Fluffy Thing

If this is what the complaint is about:

 

"The kid in the middle is upset because he was told off for leaving the production line of the iPhone 5."

 

Then I don't think it is either a race or hate crime. Apple had been criticised for working conditions in their supplier factories in China. There have also been accusations aimed at Nike for using child labour.

 

I think this kind of thing just confuses people who may be unsure where the line is.

Enthusiastic Contrafibularities

Like most here, I saw it more as a dig towards child labour than a race of people.

 

The complainant admits that she over reacted. I agree she did, and like others I think she just wanted her 15 twit minutes. 

Cinds
Originally Posted by Saint:

I'm surprised he doesn't have something better to do

me too, but having said that, I don't see the racism there at all.  More of a dig at Apple's Chinese suppliers' unethical labour practices.  I'd be surprised if Amstrad don't use similar (or even the same) suppliers for their components.

Carnelian
Originally Posted by Carnelian:
Originally Posted by Saint:

I'm surprised he doesn't have something better to do

me too, but having said that, I don't see the racism there at all.  More of a dig at Apple's Chinese suppliers' unethical labour practices.  I'd be surprised if Amstrad don't use similar (or even the same) suppliers for their components.

I actually know the answer to this having dealt with all Alan's import documents many years ago when I worked in Banking and he was one of my customers...  I'm just not allowed to say anything cos we signed a secrecy thing so I am not much use

Mount Olympus *Olly*

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