Actress Shila Iqbal has spoken for the first time about her Emmerdale sacking on This Morning - but viewers slam her for showing 'no remorse'.
The 24-year-old joined the ITV soap as series regular Aiesha Richards at the end of March but was instantly fired over historic offensive tweets.
The posts are said to have dated back to 2013 when she attended college in Rochdale.
Iqbal, who has also appeared in Lala's Ladies, Citizen Khan and the film Eaten By Lions, has now spoken about her abrupt exit from the soap on live TV for the first time.
Speaking emotionally to hosts Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield, she described losing her dream job as her life "crashing down" but annoyed fans of the show by calling her messages as "banter", claiming there was "no malicious intent".
Recalling the moment Emmerdale bosses dragged her into a meeting to confront her past behaviour, Iqbal said: "I felt like I was dreaming. I do not condone the use of those words.
"They're not in my vocabulary anymore. For them to be there in front of me, I couldn't believe it. I knew it was completely wrong for me to do so.
"I think at the time there was no malicious intent behind the tweets. It was a conversation, banter, between my group of friends.
"It was heavily influenced by the hip hop and rap music we listened to. I did use it freely, but very wrongly. I didn't understand the true meaning and hurt behind the words."
Following her interview, This Morning viewers took to social media to call out the former star.
One said: "#ThisMorning Shila Iqbal's sorry she got caught! Next!!!"
Another commented: "She is smiling an awful lot for someone who is 'remorseful'.... #thismorning."
"She's not sorry she's showing no remorse and hasn't learned from her actions 18/19 year olds know right from wrong and her use of language was wrong #ThisMorning," added another viewer.
However some may be further angered after Iqbal said bosses shouldn't have sacked her.
In an interview with The Sun , she said that it was "easy" for show bosses to "make an example" of her.
Iqbal told the newspaper: "It was easy for them to let go of me and I suppose make an example of me.
"Going forward, the bosses could maybe think about talking to that individual properly and really understanding them and not taking immediate action.
"Maybe if I'd gone in with a different attitude and said, ‘Oh no that’s not me’ or I didn't own up to it or I wasn't apologetic, but from the get-go I was angry and disappointed in myself.
"I was remorseful, and I think that should have been taken into account with my young age and the fact that I wasn't a professional actor at that age."
Earlier this month, a spokeswoman for Emmerdale said: "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."
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