Actor Riz Ahmed has apologised and paid damages to a freelance journalist he accused of being a “bigot” and falsely claimed had punched him.

The star of film The Reluctant Fundamentalist made the allegation on Twitter in June last year against freelance journalist Hardeep Singh. The tweet was in response to an article written by Singh for the Telegraph headlined: “It's time to stop using the word 'Asians’”.