Celebrity Big Brother 2007: Racism controversy?

[Chris 2.1]

Anyone who has seen this in the Uk, what do you think?

Background information:Shilpa Shetty (a Bollywood actress) is in the house among others. Since Jade Goody was put in a few days into the show (She was a very popular character on Big Brother Uk3 and despite not winning has become VERY rich, very popular and almost has an empire of perfumes, beauty products, magazine columns etc all).

Jade had been calling Shilpa racial names, refused to eat chicken curry, and someone other white girls (Jo, Danielle) have really ganged up on Shilpa.

To you: if you have not seen it, google it. I cannot even begin to explain the magnitude of this situation. Channel 4 has had OVER 39,000 complaints; Carphone Warehouse has dropped being a sponsor for the show, Jade's perfume has been pulled off shelves, Danielle has lost her 12 month modelling contract etc.

Tony Blair has been involved, in Mubai (spelling?), a city famous for its Bollywood commercialism, straw models of big brother housemates have been torched by the locals.

It is....

....unbelievable.

Jade and Shilpa were up for eviction (coincidence?) and Jade went. They even didnt have a live audience in case Jade's safety was threatened. She got no applause and constant hell from the studio audience.

What do people think? Is she trying to dig out a hole? (on TV she's getting all upset, but I feel its moreso due to her popularity plummeting as opposed to how she was wrong to say what he did).

I'd love to hear your thoughts.

[Heald]

I don't watch BB or CBB, in fact, I abhor it and everyone who watches it. However, I did tune in for Jade's eviction and interview, partly because the girlfriend was watching it, but mostly because every newspaper won't shut up about it.

I thought Davina was very light on Jade and had there been a crowd there, Jade would have been egged. She should have just shown her the front pages of the Sun and the Mirror from the last 2 days to give her some scope on how her career is now over and how she has become the most hated person in both England and India in a heartbeat.

However, I would hesitate to call it racist. Shilpa did act very high and mighty and did herself no favours, although she eventually did come down to Earth, although her first impression had already been set into Jade, Jo and Danielle. However, making fun of someone's accent and food is not racist. People make fun of British accents and make fun of us having cream tea and scones. Hell, I'm Scottish and people make fun of kilts, Scottish accents and haggis. Just because she is not white doesn't make it racist.

The fact is, everyone who complained about the controversy only fuelled the flames:

- The national media helped the programme's flagging ratings by constantly reporting on it.
- The governments of the UK and India wasted time talking about it and instead of rising above it because it is a shitty TV show, they felt it was necessary to devote taxpayer's time and money towards it.
- The Indians who burnt the effigies are doing themselves no favours. Anyone who burns anything in an attempt to convey how pissed off they are, regardless of whether it is a flag, a piece of paper or an effigy, is a barbarian and only shows how small-minded, backward, petulant and primitive they really are.

Hopefully, now that she is out, everyone will shut up and get back to work.

[mr_pikachu]

I don't watch reality shows for the simple reason that they're a waste of time.

I did hear about this situation, though. Let me be blunt. This incident (incidents?) is sad, but it's hardly a new thing. The only difference between this and what happens every day with racists, bigots, and other idiots is that this program featured "celebrities" on national television. It should be abhorred, but we shouldn't delude ourselves into thinking that this is a major incident. It's a relatively constant, sad reality that happened to be on the tube this time.

Enough said.

[Chris 2.1]

I think there is something a bit fishy about it. It started on a very weak note; alleged this, alleged that. Something a little 'editing' might change.

But Channel 4 seem to specifically show the 'racially abusive' scenes night after night, as Heald put it, adding fuel to the flames. And having not watched a single episode until tonight, I was still wanting to watch the eviction.

Unfortunately this sounds to me like a Kate Moss situation; Jade makes a big apology, becomes national treasure *shoots self* and gets twice the money she normally gets.


Ps: I think the comment "I won't eat anything she makes, I don't know where her hands have been" leans into racism but then again, Germaine did call someone 'White Trash' and that is, essentially, a form of racism if the food comment is.

But you know how it is.

[Ultimate Charizard]

People are far too quick to play the Race card these days.
Fair enough in some countries its a big problem but in the UK you simply cannot Fart near someone of a different racial background without being labelled a bigot. There is no difference between what happened in the BB house than has happened in every series since it Started.
Last year Michael Barrymore was slated for Bullying Jodie Marsh. But of course because she is a young white girl noone particularly cares. Becuase Jade and her 'gang' had a problem with someone else wasnt a surprise. Thats what happens when you throw people (especially celebs) who are used to some level of privacy into a situation where theyre with the same people 24/7 for weeks on end. Hell thats one of the things the producers are after, its good entertainment. The only mistake Jade made was to pick on someone of a different Racial background and not having the intelligence to come up with more original put downs other than the obvious ones. When you want to insult someone its a natural reaction to go for physical charachteristics or background. How many times have you heard someone called 'fat ba$tard' or 'Retard' or some other such nastiness?
As soon as she went after Shilpa its instantly labelled as a Racial. If she had been picking on some white girl half the country would have joined in as she was a bit 'up herself'.

As someone else mentioned. Jermaine's 'White Trash' remark has been completely ignored. Is it because Racism against white people is acceptable? Or simply that noone dare call him on it incase they are accused of being racist for singling out the black guy?

[Magmar]

I think nobody should have been watching that reality FILTH to begin with, thus eliminating the entire problem. :)

[Ultimate Charizard]

I think nobody should have been watching that reality FILTH to begin with, thus eliminating the entire problem. :)

I havent watched any of it but its hard to get away from if you even read a newspaper.

[Heald]

^ - Even though this whole racism/CBB thing is old news now, the Sun and the Mirror are still having a war over who can be the most anti-racist. For example, the Mirror has sent hacks to spy, harrass and dig up dirt on any and all Channel 4 executives, regardless of whether or not they have had anything to do with CBB and then post ridiculous 10 word articles about them, with most of the page taken up by a huge headline saying something like 'RACIST CHANNEL 4 EXEC IS A PEDO', and then got exclusive interview rights to Shilpa, thereby taking the crown for being the most anti-racist.

Not to be outdone, the Sun actually went to the lowest common denominator and actually got a child of every race (including a hispanic person, despite the fact Britain has hardly any hispanic people in it) to hold up a sign saying a racist slur, then on the next page, they were holding up a sign saying 'BRITISH'. It's bad enough that an American-run paper is playing the British card, but the fact that they are exploiting children to further their goals is utterly disgusting.

Funnily enough, they included 'chav scum' and 'pikey' as some of their racial slurs, yet pretty much every issue of the Sun runs a story of a working-class man or family doing something wrong e.g. benefit fraud, having too many kids, racking up ASBOs, winning the lottery etc. and then posts it under a headline going something like 'KING OF CHAVS ASBO HEAVEN' or 'CHAV SCUM IS A PIKEY MENACE'. Ah, I love hypocrisy. The Private Eye should have a field day with this.