‘Emmerdale’ has written Aiesha Richards out of the show after actress Shila Iqbal was fired over controversial historic social media posts.
The soap star was axed by bosses last month over past tweets from 2012 – which she posted as a teenager – and this week her character’s sudden exit has been addressed on screen.
On Thursday evening (16.05.19), Aiesha was brought up during a conversation between on-screen mother Manpreet Sharma (Rebecca Sarker) and stepdad Rishi Sharma (Bhasker Patel).
The pair explained how the character had abruptly "taken off" when she was meant to be organising a party for Amba Metcalfe (Ava Jayasinghe) because her "promoter friend needed her in Ibiza".
Shila, 24, has repeatedly apologised for her past actions after being fired from the soap.
She recently tweeted: "I want to say I am truly sorry to anyone who I have hurt or offended with the tweets I sent as a silly, uneducated teenager. Please know I do not condone the language I used 6/7 years ago.
"Even if I was having a conversation with friends and had no malice behind the tweets, the now mature and wiser me knows that it was utterly wrong of me to do so. (sic)"
She has also revealed she wants to help raise awareness to the younger generation about taking a "moral responsibility" about using "language appropriately", and insists she doesn’t use such language anymore.
Shila said: "I’ve grown and I’ve matured and I’ve become educated, six/ seven years later, I’m now a professional actor. I wasn’t at that time. I didn’t have the responsibilities that I do.
"I know now that young people will look up to me and what I say can influence them and I think that’s very important. I do own up to the fact I used inappropriate language. I don’t do that anymore, I don’t speak like that anymore."
Emmerdale explains Aiesha Richards exit after Shila Iqbal axe
