To think Lord Sugar should be sacked from the BBC for his tweet?

[BlondeSea]

Earlier today Lord Sugar tweeted a photo of the Senegal football team with a caption along the lines of "I recognise these from the beaches in Marbella selling sunglasses!"

He doctored the image to add pictures of sunglasses. People challenged him online and he insisted it was funny and refused to apologise however since then he has apologised - he's obviously been forced to.

I won't add the image here, it's now been taken down but you can see it if you google it. AIBU to think this is disgusting, not funny, and he should be fired from the BBC?

It’s okay not to get the joke, NotaCleverName. It’s quite nuanced so it will be over most people’s heads. That’s why I’m going to break it down for you:

1. Many people who sell things on the beach in Marbella are black
2. The footballers in the photo are also black

It’s pretty ingenious, isn’t it? I’d love to know how he came up with it.

Yes thinking an unfunny racist tweet is stupid is exactly the same as sending your dad to prison. EXACTLY. Well done.

I wonder how many black men have taken offence at his tweet, or is it the usually lefty/do-gooders taking offence by proxy??

People on this thread have said they find this distressing, so your suggestion that black people don't has clearly misfired.

Why is doing good a term of abuse? Should we be doing bad?

Even if he thinks it's funny - which I think he does despite his apology - it's astonishing that someone who has such an influential and powerful position in UK society should lack the self awareness that he thinks it's acceptable to tweet such a racist comment.

Especially given the reaction he had to his last tweet about Corbyn and Hitler.

That surely says a lot about him.

This thread explains a lot to me. Clearly I’m living in a left wing bubble. The justifications of racism being ok when it’s funny. And calling it out likened to McCarthyism. Explains that a lot of people are going about there business harbouring some horrible thoughts. Sad but interesting.

@jellybears, could you explain precisely why it is desirable that we should stop being offended by outright racism?

Let's just ban all humour because let's face it all jokes offend someone!

Self-evidently not true. Is there any valid reason for closing our eyes to racist jokes, bobstersmum?

So, while we are at it, can we ban all jokes about Scottish people being tight, Welsh shagging sheep, oh, and I have been forever scarred by people calling me a geek because I wear glasses.

In fact, let's ban all humour because most of it is based on taking the pee out of stereotypes.

I would love one of the people on this thread who have said they find the joke funny to explain the humour to me.

@Gatecrasher61 Did you find Lord Sugar's tweet racist?

Gatecrasher, whilst those jokes are wrong, I don't see the welsh being beaten up for existing, nor the Scots. Although I suspect you may have been for wearing glasses.

In fact, let's ban all humour because most of it is based on taking the pee out of stereotypes

Well that's interesting - do you think that there might be some power dynamics going on....

*So, while we are at it, can we ban all jokes about Scottish people being tight, Welsh shagging sheep, oh, and I have been forever scarred by people calling me a geek because I wear glasses.

In fact, let's ban all humour because most of it is based on taking the pee out of stereotypes.*

Well those jokes are weak and unoriginal and the people who make or laugh at them are weak and unoriginal too, but that aside, do you GENUINELY not see any difference between the examples you gave and jokes based on race? If not and you’re an actual adult then... how??? This is the kind of reasoning I would expect from a preteen or younger. Where are your critical thinking skills?

He may not be an employee of the BBC's, but clearly it is open to them to tell The Apprentice's production company that they won't take any more series if he is presenting it.

As for the suggestion upthread that that will hurt the BBC more than him, nonsense. The Apprentice is well past its sell-by date anyway, and people who watch it do so in order to point and laugh at the idiot contestants; there is literally no-one who watches it solely so that they can see Sugar. Ending it altogether would be no loss, likewise having a different person as the main protagonist may if anything help to revive it.

Good luck with that #blondesea. I've asked several times and not got an answer.

I'll admit that there have been times when I've found obviously 'bad taste' jokes to be funny. Doesn't mean that the jokes are 'OK' and certainly doesn't mean that a high-profile figure should post them on Twitter. But I have been able to see the intended humour.

Here though? Nope. Some men who sell sunglasses on Spanish beaches are black. Here is a photo of some footballers who are also black. Hilarious huh? Oh I see, you're just a PC pearl-clutcher who can't appreciate a good joke.

Yeah IcedPurple the unfunniness of the actual joke is just the cherry on the cake. I can’t imagine how witless someone would have to be to chuckle at it.

I am just being honest to admit that I laughed on the first sentence in reference to my own memories of beach sellers, and then read the second sentence and needed to process that maybe it was a bit racist before I realised.
This is exactly why a huge deal needs to be made out of it! It’s like every day sexism, it goes on and continues because unless you are confronted by the reality of these jokes then they carry on.

[b]Did you find Lord Sugar's tweet racist?[/b]
If I had been to Marbella, I might have found in mildly amusing. Having not been, the humour was lost on me. I look like a geek because I wear glasses. Should I be offended at geek jokes?

Is the joke any more racist than those told about Welsh or Scottish people?

I've heard jokes made about circumcision, something that is mostly carried out in the UK by certain religions. Perhaps that is racist too.

Is the joke any more racist than those told about Welsh or Scottish people?

Are Welsh and Scottish races?

Gatecrasher, if the joke is no more racist than other racist jokes, how does that make it OK?

And if you can't see any difference between jokes about the Welsh and the Scottish as opposed to those about black people, have a think about their respective histories.

gatecrasher

There is a history of racism in this country. It still exists.

Maybe people who aren't geeks shouldn't tell geek jokes.

Why do people who aren't geeks tell geek jokes? Is it because they like geeks or do they have an issue with geeks?

I’m someone who usually gets annoyed when people call things racist or sexist, and I think both are wildly overused. However I saw this tweet and was immediately shocked that someone had posted it - it is obviously well outside the bounds of acceptable public humour. If Alan Sugar finds this type of thing funny, he can share it with his close friends or something. It’s completely fucking stupid and offensive to share it on a public forum.

Ah come on. It's a storm in a tea cup.