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The chief executive of a British company is under fire for racist comments he made about Diane Abbott, the first Black woman elected to the U.K.’s Parliament.
According to The Independent, Frank Hester, CEO of healthcare software company The Phoenix Partnership, made the remarks about Abbott, who was elected to the House of Commons in 1987 and represents an area of North London, during a company meeting in 2019.
“It’s like trying not to be racist, but you see Diane Abbott on the TV, and you’re just like … you just want to hate all Black women because she’s there. And I don’t hate all Black women at all, but I think she should be shot,” Hester said, per The Independent.
Hester apologized to Abbott for his comments on Monday (March 11), according to a statement from his company.
“Frank Hester accepts that he was rude about Diane Abbott in a private meeting several years ago, but his criticism had nothing to do with her gender nor color of skin," the statement reads in a part. "He wishes to make it clear that he regards racism as a poison which has no place in public life.”
Britain’s Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, called Hester's comments "wrong" and "racist," but noted that Hester “rightly [apologized] for them and that remorse should be accepted."
“The Prime Minister is clear there is no place for racism in public life, and as the first British-Asian Prime Minister leading one of the most ethnically diverse Cabinets in our history, the U.K. is living proof of that fact,” Sunak said in a statement.
Abbott called Hester's comments "frightening."
“I am a single woman and that makes me vulnerable anyway. But to hear someone talking like this is worrying,” Abbott said, per the Independent. “The fact that two [Members of Parliament] have been murdered in recent years makes talk like this all the more alarming."
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