Alan Sugar investigated by police for “racist” tweet

Lord Alan Sugar has always been straight-talking. But being loose-lipped isn’t always a good thing in the public domain, as he learnt when he found himself under police investigation for a “racist tweet”.

Lord Sugar tweeted a picture of a crying toddler, seemingly of Chinese ethnicity, with the message: “The kid in the middle is upset because he was told off for leaving the production line of the iPhone 5” (see the tweet and photo below).

The Merseyside Police classified the tweet as a “hate incident” but deemed that no crime had occurred.

A shop owner from Liverpool called Nichola Szeto made the complaint to the police, saying the tweet was “racist”.

She told the Mail on Sunday: “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.”

A police spokesperson said: “Merseyside Police can confirm officers received a complaint in relation to the tweet sent on the evening of Sunday September 30.

“The communication has been examined by the force’s specialist hate crime investigation team and at this time it has been recorded as a hate incident and no criminal offences have taken place.

“Officers from the specialist team will be contacting the person who made the initial complaint to discuss this.”

• The kid in the middle is upset because he was told off for leaving the production line of the iPhone 5 pic.twitter.com/DYCM9GfgM5

  — Lord Sugar (@Lord_Sugar) September 30, 2013

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