The Apprentice star Lottie Lion caught in new racism storm after mocking Venezuelan rival’s accent
CONTROVERSIAL Lottie Lion flew into a fresh racism and bullying storm yesterday after mocking Venezuelan fellow Apprentice star Jemelin Artigas’ accent and former job as a “toilet cleaner”.
Posh Lottie, 20 ridiculed Venezuelan Jemelin Artigas in a chat with fellow Apprentice star Ryan Mark Parsons – and then posted it online.
She also branded show boss Lord Sugar as an “actual racist” in the shocking footage.
Yesterday mum of one Jemelin, 35, hit back, saying: “She’s a massive bully and a racist – and it needs to stop.”
In the video Lottie talks about businesswoman Jemelin – who moved to the UK aged 16 - and says: “She’s the most illegitimate person I think I know.”
Then, mocking Jemelin’s accent, Lottie says: “She’s like 18 years ago I moved to this country and it’s like I didn’t even speak the language, all I did was clean toilets.”
Lottie, of Bristol – whose business plan was a posh country club for ladies - then adds: “It’s like, darling, we all started from nothing – I started from nothing.”
During the Instagram live video – shot on Friday night Ryan-Mark laughs and says: “Oh my gosh.”
Lottie then holds up a bottle and glass and says: “That’s what happens when I have too much wine.”
She goes on to say: “If we’re going to talk about f****** racists, let’s talk about Lord Sugar. He’s an actual racist – he’s taken a picture of the Venezuelan football team or something and posted it on Twitter saying yes I recognise these from working on a beach.”
Lord Sugar actually sparked a storm by comparing the Senegal football team to beach hawkers in Spain, in June 2018.
Lottie –at the centre of a racism and homophobia probe during The Apprentice after we revealed comments she made – was yesterday running a Twitter poll on whether mocking Jemelin’s accent was racist, and the video was still running.
Dozens of people yesterday sent a clip of the video to Jemelin, who runs a network marketing firm and sells skin-care products. And – speaking exclusively to the Sun on Sunday – Jemelin said: “I don’t understand why she has done this and is picking on me. I feel under attack.
“Mocking someone’s accent is not always racist – it depends on the context. But here, she is calling me illegitimate and talking about how I was a cleaner so is clearly being racist. She seems to be saying I am an illegal immigrant. What baffles me is she has claimed to be the victim of cyber bullying and online threats – and here she is being the biggest bully out there.”
Jemlin said in her audition tape for the BBC1 business show that she moved to the UK as a teen, and worked as a cleaner including doing toilets. As last year’s pre-recorded show started, The Sun on Sunday revealed how Lottie was at the centre of a racism row after telling contestant Lubna Farhan: “Shut up Gandhi.”
In other Whats App messages we revealed, Lottie told Lubna: “I’ll f**k you up” and threatened her with an “upper cut to the jaw”.
Our revelations sparked an investigation into Lottie by BBC bosses and the show’s production company Boundless, the UK arm of Fremantle media. Lottie was barred from spin-off shows ‘You’re Hired’ and ‘You’re Fired’.
Other contestants also claimed Lottie made homophobic comments and said she had “never spoken to a black person”.
We later told how show boss Lord Sugar had mocked Jemlin’s Venezuelan background in a boardroom clash, saying: “No wonder your country is in a state – it’s because it’s full of people like you.”
In March, Lottie claimed she was the victim of online bullying after she clashed with Apprentice star Thomas Skinner over her love life, when he mentioned her romp on the show with Lewis Ellis, 29.
That came when Lottie posted online that she had split from her boyfriend of almost a year and was moving into a new flat.
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It promoted fellow Apprentice candidate Thomas Skinner to pick her up on the comment, saying: “If you was with him a year.....you must of cheated on him with Lewis in Finland.”
Lottie, of Bristol, replied by releasing a tearful online video insisting she was single when she had the tryst with marketing manager Lewis - and accused Thomas of trying to “humiliate” her.
But Jemelin added: “Lottie is a hypocrite and needs to grow up and learn from her mistakes not keep making them.”
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