SNP MP John Nicolson has been forced to apologize after posting an “ignorant racist slur” on social media. The MP for Ochil and South Perthshire shared a video on Twitter ahead of his appearance on BBC’s Debate Night last night.
In the video, he was groomed by a stylist when he commented that when politicians apply their own make-up “they get a little overly tanned, they tend to tandoor themselves”.
MSP Pam Gosal, who is of Asian descent, has written to Mr Nicolson to demand that he apologize and remove the tweet, which she called “an offensive stereotype that I hope we left behind in the 1970s”.
The West of Scotland MSP said: “I can’t believe John Nicolson thought this ignorant racist slur was even remotely appropriate.”
The Conservative politician continued: “Using the term ‘tandoori’ in relation to a brown complexion is grossly insulting.
“The subtext is clear: brown people eat curry.
“It’s an offensive stereotype that I had hoped we’d put behind us in the 1970s, but here we have a supposedly ‘progressive’ politician using it in 2023.
“John Nicolson needs to apologize for his lazy and crass pigeonholing and delete this crass tweet.”
Twitter users were largely unresponsive to Mr Nicolson’s comment about politicians getting “overly brown”.
However, one user, Henry Lacey, simply said, “Nice racist trope there.”
Another, David Riddick, said: “We all know you are an arrogant and pompous person, but you have now put racism on your CV.”