Lord Alan Sugar in new homophobic row after joking with Piers Morgan about gay elephants on Twitter

LORD Alan Sugar has been caught up in a fresh homophobic row after joking with frenemy Piers Morgan about gay elephants on Twitter.

The 72-year-old star of BBC1's The Apprentice was accused of "casual homophobia" by social media followers.

The billionaire, who has a following of 5.3million, retweeted a question posed by the Good Morning Britain host, 54, in the early hours of the morning who asked: "Genuine question: are there gay elephants?"

Lord Sugar then added: "@piersmorgan Good question they have good memory, That is why they followed you when you went on Safari in South Africa."

The comment caused a flurry of reaction from fans who found his joke offensive.

One replied: "Is this a homophobic slur against Piers?"

A second said: "Bit of casual homophobia??"

A third asked: "Bit of casual homophobia in the middle of the night?"

While another‏ responded: "By all means attempt a gay joke, we wont be offended as long as it's witty or clever. This offends me simply because it's beyond dull."

It comes after Lord Sugar was accused of homophobia after tweeting about “puffs” in the Apprentice boardroom in December.

He made the comments after a fan had mocked up his face on a Sugar Puffs cereal box.

He replied: “ hah… I have enough puffs who come through my boardroom.”

And it also comes after The Apprentice boss was forced to apologise last year for a picture he shared on Twitter comparing the Senegal World Cup football team with African beach vendors.

He tweeted a picture of the team, which had been edited to include a picture of handbags and sunglasses laid out on sheets.

His post came the morning after the Senegalese beat Poland 2-1 to win their first game of the tournament in Russia.

Above the image, he wrote: "I recognise some of these guys from the beach in Marbella. Multi-tasking resourceful chaps."

But after seeing the outraged response of other social media users, the billionaire took the post down and said sorry.

He had initially told them: "Just been reading the reaction to my funny tweet about the guy on the beach in Marbella.

"Seems it has been interpreted in the wrong way as offensive by a few people. Frankly I can't see that. I think it's funny. But I will pull it down if you insist."

Sugar earlier tweeted: "I can't see what I have to apologise for. You are OTT. It's a bloody joke."

But the penny finally dropped and he apologised for his tweet about the team, removing all of his tweets in which he defended the post.

He then wrote: "I misjudged my earlier tweet. It was in no way intended to cause offence and clearly my attempt at humour has backfired. I have deleted the tweet and am very sorry."

The BBC, who air The Apprentice, said: "It's right he's apologised unreservedly."