Emmerdale’s Shila Iqbal fired from role of Aiesha Richards after racist tweets
11 April 2019, 15:08 | Updated: 11 April 2019, 15:25
The actress has been fired from role of Aiesha Richards after using the N-word in historic racist tweets
Emmerdale actress Shila Iqbal has been fired from her role of Aiesha Richards after some of her old Tweets were unearthed.
The 24-year-old, originally from Rochdale is reported to have repeatedly used the N-word in a number of online posts when she was a 19-year-old college student in 2013.
Shila first appeared on the English soap back in 2018 for a brief stint but her return and confirmation as a new series regular was only announced a matter of days ago.
A representative for Emmerdale told The Sun Online: "As a consequence of historic social media posts Shila Iqbal has left her role as Aiesha Richards on Emmerdale.
"The programme took the decision not to renew her contract as soon as these posts were brought to the company's attention."
Shila has apologised profusely since the Tweets came to light, citing her young age as one of the reasons behind her offensive Tweets.
According to The Mail Online, said: ""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."
She added: "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."
