Celebrity Big Brother (British series 5) racism controversy
After conducting an investigation, Ofcom ruled that Channel 4 had breached the Broadcasting Code, and statutory sanctions were placed on the network.
[1]: 1.2 On the first day, eleven celebrity housemates entered the Big Brother house, including the model Danielle Lloyd, the S Club 7 singer Jo O'Meara and the Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty.
On 5 January, the former Big Brother housemate Jade Goody entered the house, accompanied by her boyfriend, Jack Tweed, and her mother, Jackiey Budden.
[1]: 4.19 Each day, Channel 4 broadcast a daily "highlights" show, featuring selected events of the previous 24 hours in the house.
When they suggested that chicken may be cooked differently in India, O'Meara said: "That's why they're all thin, because they're sick all the time, because they're ill."[1]: 4.36 Lloyd also mentioned that she did not like Shetty touching her food because she did not "know where her hands have been".
[7] On 18 January – the day after the episode that included their argument over Oxo Cubes, Lloyd's subsequent "fuck off home" remark and Shetty voicing her concern about potential racism – the chief executive of Ofcom, Ed Richards, said that 25,000 complaints had been received, calling it a "UK record".
[1]: 6.59 The BBC became the subject of complaints after making the controversy its lead story, on the same day that the political advisor Ruth Turner was arrested for her involvement in the Cash-for-Honours scandal.
[17] Leicester East MP Keith Vaz tabled an early day motion in Parliament addressing this issue.
"[20] London mayor Ken Livingstone stated, "The racism towards Shilpa Shetty on Celebrity Big Brother is completely unacceptable".
[20] Equality and Human Rights Commission chairman Trevor Phillips stated that Channel 4 must "make clear that they got it wrong, they intervened too little too late".
[23] A small protest involving "dozens" of Shetty's fans took place in Patna, eastern India, during which straw effigies of Big Brother producers were burned.
[19] Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi, India's information and broadcasting minister, opined that Shetty should appear before the Indian high commission in London when she left the house, stating: "If there has been some racism shown against her in the show, it is not only an attack on women but also on the skin and the country.
[24] On 18 January, the Carphone Warehouse suspended its sponsorship of Celebrity Big Brother with immediate effect over the alleged racism before permanently ending its contract with Channel 4 altogether.
[25][26] Speaking about the suspension, the company's chief executive, Charles Dunstone, stated: Our concern has rapidly mounted about the broadcast behaviour of individuals within the Big Brother house.
[25]Other sponsors of the show, including Beauty-boxes.com, Zamya, United Biscuits, Cobra Beer, Cow & Gate and Moneysupermarket.com withdrew sponsorship from the programme.
Housemates are closely monitored at all times to ensure they have the appropriate support inside the house which includes being able to talk in confidence to producers.
They denied that any "overt racial abuse or racist behaviour" had occurred but acknowledged that a "cultural and class clash between [Shetty] and three of the British females"[33] had.
On behalf of the board the Chief Executive and I have commissioned a review of the editorial and compliance processes that support Big Brother.
We are expecting to hear from Ofcom in the near future detailing the nature and number of complaints they have received and requesting a formal response to their questions.
After Shetty confided in Cleo Rocos that she thought the conflicts within the House could be racially motivated, her words compelled police to investigate whether or not to classify her treatment as 'racial hatred' under Part III of the Public Order Act 1986.
We will continue to liaise with Ofcom and with Endemol, whom we have strongly encouraged to ensure that any form of behaviour that could raise similar concerns, does not occur.
[42]Police also confirmed they had spoken to Goody and her mother, Budden, stating: An investigation into allegations of racist behaviour inside the Celebrity Big Brother house is continuing.
[46]: 4 In subsequent conversations, they created limericks which featured the rhyming words "tacky", "happy", "nappy", "crappy", "yappy" and "strappy".
[46]: 5–6 These conversations, which were never broadcast, led to Big Brother issuing formal warnings to O'Meara and Tweed in the Diary Room, threatening immediate ejection from the House if their behaviour recurred.
[1]: 1.17 However, Ofcom responded that although Channel Four were unaware of the material, it highlighted a significant breakdown in communication between it and the producers, meaning that they were "not in possession of all the relevant facts and as a result, failed to maintain proper control over their programme".
Subsequently, the network agreed to change and improve their compliance systems, introduce an "additional editorial perspective", "acknowledge and contribute to public debate provoked by its programmes" and update the Big Brother rules.
However, the review also commented on what it described as the "hostile" media coverage of the programme, and denied that Channel 4 had "deliberately engineered" tension in the House between Shetty and her housemates.
These have included Ken Morley,[59] Christopher Biggins,[60] Rodrigo Alves,[61] Tila Tequila,[62] Andrew Tate[63] and Ellis Hillon.
Two days into the series, Goody was forced to leave the Bigg Boss house after receiving a call from her doctor indicating that she had been diagnosed with cervical cancer.
[70] In a statement on 1 February, she apologised for her behaviour and also discussed her introduction into the house, her eviction, her interview with McCall, and the death threats she had received.
