Nadine Mulkerrin has thanked her ‘Hollyoaks’ co-star Rachel Adedeji for "being brave" and "speaking out against racism".
The 26-year-old actress – who plays Cleo McQueen – has praised Lisa Loveday actress’ work ethic and admitted she is a "true professional", after Rachel claimed last week that she had experienced racism on the programme.
Nadine posted a statement on social media, which read: "I believe you & I stand in solidarity with you. I’ve worked with you for five years and I know first hand you are the epitome of a true professional.
"You work extremely hard and are held in a very high regard by everyone. You literally know everyone’s name, from every department and you can’t walk down a corridor together without you stopping to say hello to everyone with your infectious smile.
"Thank you for being brave. Thank you for speaking out against racism. Hopefully your voice will implement much needed change within our industry.
"I’m sorry you’ve endured discrimination during your time at Hollyoaks and I’m also sorry it took me 3 days to say this. We can all do better.
"I love you, Nadine. (sic)"
Rachel replied: "I love you so much. You don’t know how much you mean to me. Thank you my sister."
Following the 28-year-old star’s comments, ‘Hollyoaks’ announced they are "investigating", and insisted they have "zero tolerance on racism".
A post on their social media channels read: "Hollyoaks has zero tolerance on racism. We are taking Rachel Adedeji’s comments extremely seriously and are investigating."
And yesterday (09.06.20), the show’s producer Lime Pictures issued a statement insisting it has "a zero tolerance of racism or any form of discrimination across all of its shows".
The statement read: "’Hollyoaks’ has been deeply shocked and saddened by issues that have been brought to our attention over the weekend.
"Lime Pictures strives to have zero tolerance of racism or any form of discrimination across all of its shows, but it is clear we have further work to do.
"We must stamp out implicit bias which means calling out racism wherever and whenever we see it. We will continue to add to our action plan as we continue and broaden our dialogue with cast and staff. We have already launched a series of next steps, set out below:
"We are reaching out to all of our cast and staff that have raised matters to make sure that we address individual issues and concerns;
"We have asked all cast, staff and freelancers to share with us any further issues of concern or instances of unacceptable behaviour that they have not previously raised;
"We are working with unconscious bias trainers to augment Lime’s all staff training to help address concerns raised by cast and staff;
"All BAME staff, freelancers and cast will be offered mentoring from Lime’s senior management;
We will build on our work towards making Lime as diverse and inclusive as possible across all aspects of recruitment and talent retention, on and off screen;
"Lime’s BAME writers and directors schemes will be reviewed and augmented to drive greater inclusivity within the industry;
"We are undertaking an immediate and in depth review of company and cast liaison across Lime;
"We will be producing a ‘Hollyoaks’ podcast where our black cast will share their experiences on racism to their audience.
"We are very conscious that we need to do more and are committed to making changes that we need to make. The onus is upon our company collectively and us all as individuals within our community to tackle racism, and it is a responsibility which all of us here at Hollyoaks are taking on fully."