Disgraced ex Eastenders star Katie Jarvis said she is "horrified" by the vile racist abuse she used during a row on Southend seafront, as she admitted she "struggles to watch the video footage to this day".
The 30-year-old, who played Hayley Slater in the BBC soap between 2018 and 2019, was today ordered to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work, after she shouted "black lives don't matter" and called a group of women "black c***s" while drunk, later bragging about being in EastEnders.
The actress spewed racist abuse in front of children while walking along the seafront in Southend-on-Sea in July 2020, Cyrus Shroff, prosecuting, told Basildon Crown Court at Jarvis' sentencing hearing.
Katie admitted racially aggravated harassment and common assault at Basildon Crown Court yesterday, having changed her plea on the day her trial was due to start.
Giving a tearful statement outside the court today, Jarvis said she took "full responsibility for the sickening way I behaved" and denied being racist.
The chaotic scene started after Jarvis got in an argument with four women who were sitting at a fish and chip restaurant on the Eastern Esplanade, and she tried to take a chair which one of the group was going to use, the court heard.
Jarvis was told she could not use the chair, and the argument escalated, to the point Jarvis shouted “black lives don’t matter anyway”, and said: “black c***s, I’m a celebrity.”
“She then repeated ‘black lives don’t matter’ and ‘black c***s’, it appears a fight a broke out between the parties,” prosecuting Shroff added.
One of the group described how the incident left her feeling “disgusted and angry", adding: "I couldn’t believe in 2020 this is still being said, it traumatised me and reminded me of growing up in the eighties in an estate in London."
During the hearing, Patrick Harte, her barrister, said Ms Jarvis maintained she did not use "use any racist slur", until after incident "turned physical".
It was also heard in court that on the same day she was abusive towards a doorman after he refused her entry to a bar, and she then later returned.
Yesterday Mr Shroff said the victim “was in the position to allow a child to use the toilet in the bar”, and Jarvis accepts “spitting at the ground but not in his direction.”
Wearing jeans and a blue jacket, Jarvis said: "Like the judge said when I was in my interview with the police the day after this incident occurred, I immediately accepted using the disgusting language alleged.
"I was and remain horrified by it. I struggle to watch the video footage to this day. I honestly don't recognise myself in that video and I struggle to remember all of the details as my emotions took over.
"But I take full responsibility for the sickening way that I behaved. As it shows I got involved in an unnecessary arguments which resulted in four or five people physically attacking me.
"I reacted shamefully and in the heat of the moment I said things I will regret for the rest of my life. I didn't physically hit anyone at any point of that day.
"For those who now me best they know I am not a racist and do not hold racist views. I grew up in a diverse part of London, a city which celebrates it's diversity.
"I am a proud Londoner, I have friends and family who share a wide variety of background and over the course of my career I have been lucky enough to work with people from all walks of life.
"I have never formed an opinion of somebody or treated then differently based on the colour of their skin, their accents or background."
"To all the people that were present in Southend that day who were rightly offended by my behaviour, I offer you a full sincere apology.
"To any one who has seen the footage online, I am truly sorry and feel nothing but shame and regret for the language that I used."
She went on to thank her friends and family for supporting her.
The actress' other roles include the lead part Mia Williams in the 2009 drama Fish Tank.
Fish Tank won the Jury Prize at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival and Jarvis was awarded the Most Promising Newcomer gong at the British Independent Film Awards for her role.
The actress had also been charged with two counts of assault by beating, which she denied.
The judge instructed that one of these counts lie on the file, with a not guilty verdict recorded in respect of the second.
