Shane Richie has been criticised for a comment he made about the collapse of Thomas Cook.
On Tuesday, Britain’s oldest travel company announced it had “ceased trading with immediate effect” after last-minute negotiations failed.
The collapse of the company has left 150,000 British holidaymakers stranded abroad and put 22,000 jobs at risk, including 9,000 in the UK.
Read more: Some 150,000 British holidaymakers stranded around the world following Thomas Cook collapse
Following the news, EastEnders actor Shane – who is best known for playing Alfie Moon in the soap – tweeted the world “karma” to the Thomas Cook News account.
His comment has sparked backlash, with one person responding: “Disgusting comment.”
Another said: “I think you’ll be deleting this comment soon. Lots of people out of work just think about it.”
A third added: “Not nice, have a thought for all the staff who have lost their jobs. Shame on you.”
We are sorry to announce that Thomas Cook has ceased trading with immediate effect.
This account will not be monitored.
Please visit https://t.co/WWiKkzLYQJ for further advice and information.#ThomasCook pic.twitter.com/Nf1X3jn97x
— Thomas Cook (@ThomasCookUK) September 23, 2019
Shane has since deleted the post and cleared up what he meant by his comment in separate tweets.
He wrote: “@ThomasCookCares my comment was actually a dig at management and not the thousands of employees & customers who’ve sadly been let down by mismanagement..stand down lovely people.”
In another tweet, the star added: “My comment was a dig at faceless management and not the thousands of employees who are sadly losing their jobs due to mismanagement.
Re:TC @ThomasCookCares , My comment was actually a dig at management and not the thousands of employees & customers who’ve sadly been let down by mismanagement..stand down lovely people x
— Shane Richie (@realshanerichie) September 23, 2019
“My thoughts are with the shop/ground staff who I’ve only admiration for… they’re the ones who suffer today… apologies if it read any other way.”
It’s been suggested that Shane’s “karma” tweet was linked to a bad holiday to Mexico he had with the company last year.
At the time, he told The Sun: “It was a holiday from hell. It cost thousands. It was supposed to be a holiday of a lifetime.
“I was taking my in-laws for 17 nights. It was my worst nightmare. It was [expletive] horrendous. They didn’t mention that in the programme when we were booking it. Loads of things happened.”
Ent Daily has contacted reps for Shane for comment.
My comment was a dig at faceless management and not the thousands of employees who are sadly losing their jobs due to mismanagement . My thoughts are with the shop/ground staff who I’ve only admiration for ..there the ones who suffer today ..apologies if it read any other way xx https://t.co/VaLS5AVcY6
— Shane Richie (@realshanerichie) September 23, 2019
Read more: Piers Morgan’s brother stranded after being caught up in Thomas Cook collapse
On Tuesday, Thomas Cook’s chief executive Peter Fankhauser said: “It is a matter of profound regret to me and the rest of the board that we were not successful.
“I would like to apologise to our millions of customers, and thousands of employees, suppliers and partners who have supported us for many years.”
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