Overview
- Levi Hague, a 33-year-old contestant on the upcoming series of The Apprentice, had 2012–2013 tweets describing Muslims as “dirty” and using derogatory terms for women unearthed by The Sun on Sunday.
- The BBC said it was unaware of the posts until alerted and has asked independent producer Naked for further assurances on social media checks.
- Naked acknowledged that its third-party background screening did not identify the posts and said it will review its vetting process.
- Hague apologized, calling the language unacceptable and saying the tweets do not reflect his current values, and the posts were deleted after the BBC was contacted.
- Campaigners and politicians, including Shadow Culture Secretary Nigel Huddleston, called for an urgent investigation into how the candidate passed vetting, with the show due to launch on January 29 with 20 contestants competing for a £250,000 investment from Lord Alan Sugar.