U.K.'s "Big Brother" Accused Of Racism
The furor over alleged racism on Britain's hit reality-television show "Celebrity Big Brother" has spilled into the top tiers of politcs and even reached outside of the United Kingdom.
The accusations came as the country's media watchdog logged 16,400 complaints — a record for British television — alleging that the show's contestants are targeting an Indian actress.
Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty, 31, has been repeatedly reduced to tears by a fellow contestant who has called the actress' cooking untrustworthy, mocked her accent and complained to viewers about her "screeching."
The complaints continued to pour in Wednesday after a program in which another contestant said Indians were thin because they undercooked their food.
With tensions in the house running high, an expletive deleted from the show was interpreted by some Indian Web sites as a racial slur. Channel 4 denied the charge, adding that Shetty had not expressed any concerns over the alleged abuse.
U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair was forced to weigh in on the issue Wednesday in Parliament, saying he opposes racism but had not seen the program.
His likely successor, Treasury chief Gordon Brown, waded further into the controversy, however, condemning the conduct of some of the show's participants.
"I want Britain to be seen as a country of fairness and tolerance. Anything detracting from this I condemn," said Brown.
Meanwhile a group of about 25 protesters — mostly male fans of Shetty —took to the streets in India, flogging with sticks an effigy of a Channel 4 executive which had been set on fire.
The story was front page news in many of India's newspapers Wednesday.
That was also true in Britain, where the public outcry over the show has been relentlessly scrutinized by media and pundits, wondering whether the other contestants' behavior amounts to "racism, or just bullying."
Photos: Bollywood Fashion Awards
The show pits contestants against each other in a battle to stay on the set, a specially constructed house honeycombed with microphones and cameras.
The media watchdog said it was looking into the matter, but that disciplinary action was unlikely.
British politicians voicing outrage over the show acknowledge that the government can do little to sanction Channel 4 over the episodes, as no laws or codes have been violated, but they say the station should act "responsibly" and remove the inflammatory content.
"It's not going to be a speedy process," said a spokeswoman, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with government policy. "It'll probably take a few weeks, at which point people will have forgotten about it."
Celebrities taking part in the current show include Michael Jackson's brother Jermaine and American actor Dirk Benedict, best known as "Face" in "The A Team."