Butlin's apologises after 'Muslim baddie' booed in wrestling show

'I felt I was dropped into the middle of a Britain First rally'

Butlin's has apologised for a family wrestling show described as "a horrific race hate-filled 10 minutes", in which an apparently Muslim "baddie" was booed by children as he scrapped with a Union Jack-clad hero.

The villain of the Superslam Wrestling show at the leisure chain's Skegness camp went by the name "Hakim", and took to the wrestling ring draped in an "Islamic" flag.

He fought with all-English hero "Tony Spitfire", whose wrestling trunks were emblazoned with the United Kingdom flag. A compere encouraged children in the audience to boo Hakim, and chant the word "England" as Tony Spitfire took to the stage.

Butlins has since apologised for the show, put on by contractors All-Star Wrestling.

A spokesperson described it as "a deviation from the agreed content" and "a totally unacceptable one-off which is contrary to Butlin's values".

PR manager Christian Ceriso was at the April 2 show with his daughters Amelia, eight, and Esme, six. He left the show early after witnessing the segment featuring Hakim and Tony Spitfire.

Speaking to the Independent, he said: "Islamophobia is on the rise, but I don't believe this was a deliberate attempt to [reflect that].

"It was poorly judged, dated, embarassing, uncomfortable, and lacked any awareness of the climate we’re currently in.

"With Trump’s rise and while the bodies of the dead are barely cold in Brussels, I would have thought someone, somewhere would have said ‘hang on a minute, this isn’t right’ before that show got to the stage."

Expressing his shock on Twitter the day after the show, Mr Ceriso wrote: "So we brought the kids to Butlins this [weekend]. Rough round the edges, but loads for them to do. It was all going well.

"They asked to watch the wrestling last night. Harmless bit of fun, we thought... But no.

"I felt I was dropped into the middle of a Britain First rally. Out came 'Hakim'. The Islamic flag waving baddie. 'BOOOOO', we were told.

Then came Union flag trunk wearing 'Tony Spitfire.' Yes Tony Spitfire, ladies and gents. 'En-Ger-land!' he thumped over and over.

"A horrific race hate-filled ten minutes of everything wrong on racial stereotypes. How did this get past the sense checkers?"

Butlin's has since announced that the show will continue in what they say was the format they originally agreed with All-Star Wrestling, minus the section featuring Hakim and Tony Spitfire.

Brian Dixon, managing director of All-Star Wrestling, said: "Saturday's wrestling show was different to the agreed content, and Butlin's were not made aware of the change.

"We regret this clear error of judgment, as well as the obvious offence and upset caused.

"We wish to apologise to Butlin's and their guests, and stress that this will not happen again."