Emmerdale Shila Iqbal Aiesha Richards
Soaps

Emmerdale confirms Aiesha’s fate after Shila Iqbal sacking

The actress was told to leave over historical comments on social media

Emmerdale have confirmed that ITV viewers have seen the last of Aiesha Richards.

Scriptwriters were forced to hurriedly write the character out of the soap, after actress Shila Iqbal was sacked last month.

Aiesha was hastily written out of the soap (Credit: ITV)

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Shila was fired in April 2019 when historic messages of an offensive nature were brought to the attention of show bosses.

The 24-year-old posted a series of racist and homophobic tweets in 2013, when she was 19 and a student in Rochdale.

An Emmerdale spokesperson said: “As a consequence of historic social media posts Shila Iqbal has left her role as Aiesha Richards on Emmerdale.

“The programme took the decision not to renew her contract as soon as these posts were brought to the company’s attention.”

Aiesha clashed with Priya from the get-go (Credit: ITV)

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Emmerdale fans wondering about how the character would be written out were given an answer last night (May 16), when Aiesha was mentioned during a conversation between her mum Manpreet and stepdad Rishi.

Explaining her sudden departure from the village, they said she had “taken off” when she was supposed to be organising a party for Amba Metcalfe.

They added that a “promoter friend needed her in Ibiza”.

So that’s that then – no more Aiesha.

Shila Iqbal (Credit: Instagram @shila_iqbal)
Shila was thrilled to get the job, but her fortunes soon turned (Credit: Instagram @shila_iqbal)

Her last appearance was aired last month, filmed before her shock sacking.

Aiesha was meant to permanently join the cast this year after appearing in a handful of episodes in 2018.

After the news broke, Shila issued a statement saying: “I am terribly sorry and take full responsibility for my use of such inappropriate language.

“I have paid the price and can no longer continue the job I loved the most at Emmerdale.

“Although I was young when I made the tweets, it was still completely wrong of me to do so and I sincerely apologise.”

Shila Iqbal on This Morning
Shila appeared on This Morning to discuss her very public sacking (Credit: ITV)

She later appeared on This Morning to defend herself, and told Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby: “Is it fair that I’m being judged on something I did as a teenager and, if we do look at the context and the intentions, there was no negative intention behind there – I wasn’t hurling abuse at anyone.”

She concluded: “I made a mistake, definitely, but that’s not who I am.”

Will you miss Aiesha in Emmerdale? Leave us a comment on our Facebook page @EntertainmentDailyFix and let us know what you think!


Helen Fear
TV Editor

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