Racism on Celebrity Big Brother UK

In the US, we may not be aware of the furor going on 'across the pond' in Great Britain. Celebrity Big Brother is at the center of a serious racism scandal.

In the past week, I’ve been reading and re-reading the coverage of UK’s Celebrity Big Brother. The reality TV sensation was talked about in Britain’s parliament – and just about everywhere else.

Jade Goody, a 25 year old former dental nurse who won Big Brother UK back in 2002, and a few of her housemates, former Miss Great Britain, Danielle Lloyd, and former S Club 7 singer, Jo O’Meara, had been sort of ganging up on another housemate, Shilpa Shetty. (Check out this row over OXO chicken stock cubes at You Tube for just a sample.) Shilpa is a 31 year old actress from India. She’s made quite a splash in Bollywood.

The housemates, including Goody’s mum, Jackiey Budden, were very unkind to Shilpa. She was called a ‘dog’, teased about her taste in food, the way she spoke English and much more. Some of it was to her face…much of it was behind her back. Jackiey, who's already been evicted, refused to say Shilpa's name, only referring to her as "the Indian."

Well, the British public was incensed – especially the sizeable minority of Southeast Asians that live in the UK. They immediately began flooding Ofcom, a media watchdog in Britain, with complaints of racism. Shilpa, for her part, has denied the the ‘attacks’ were racially motivated.

However, she hasn’t been privy to diary room stuff and hasn’t heard what was said behind her back.

Shilpa’s mum in India wanted her daughter to leave. Her manager advised her to come home. The man many expect to be Britain’s next Prime Minister – Gordon Brown – spoke out against the racism on the show and mentioned that Britains would not tolerate this. Brown had to cut his first trip India short in no small part due to this whole Big Brother controversy.

Jade Goody apologized to Shilpa. So did Danielle Lloyd. This was only after Jade was put up for eviction against Shilpa, who is now an odds-on favorite to win Celebrity Big Brother. It was also after Jade’s perfume Shh stopped being produced by manufacturers. (Note: In a twist of irony, the perfume is manufactured in India!) Danielle, a model, was also dropped by one of clients, a British insurance company.

Never before have I seen a reality TV show have more real-world consequences. India’s Tourism Office also extended an invite to Jade, who was evicted with 82% of the public vote without a live studio audience for fear of public attacks, and Danielle to visit India and experience the ‘healing nature of the country.’

Regardless, this story is hardly over. Danielle Lloyd, who has also been dumped by her beau, soccer player Teddy Sheringham, is expected to be shown the door next. After that, Jo O’Meara.

For coverage of this story, check out the ongoing reports at http://www.teamrt.com.