The BBC has condemned a comment made by Apprentice candidate Lottie Lion, in which she allegedly told a fellow contestant to “shut up Gandhi”.
Earlier this month, it was reported that Lion had referred to Lubna Farhan as “Gandhi” in a WhatsApp group chat ahead of the premiere of this year’s series, writing: “Lubna I f***ing swear if you disrespect me again I will f*** you up, you embarrassing failure of a businesswoman… Shut up Ghandi (sic) that doesn’t even make sense.”
In a statement to The Independent, the BBC said: “While this happened on a private messenger service once filming had concluded, the BBC nevertheless still expects the candidates to behave appropriately.
“The production company have looked into the issue and reported back, Lottie has been informed that her comments were wholly unacceptable and is in no doubt about our view on this.”
Lion previously told PA: “My use of the word Gandhi was misinterpreted, it was as candidates in the group chat had been quoting Gandhi previously."
She added: “The comments were taken out of context, and I ask the public not to make judgment without knowing the full context. At the moment, I would like my focus to be on the show, and I’m not interested in negative media attention.”
In a recent podcast interview, fired Apprentice contestant Souleyman Bah also spoke about his own experience of racism on the show, which he suggested producers failed to act on.
