Having just read some of the things which Shilpa Shetty has been called in the Big Brother House, I feel that the programme should either be stopped or Trevor Phillips should be sent in as a surprise guest to sort out Shilpa's tormentors.3500+ people have complained to Ofcom. It's been raised in the House of Commons and now one of the programme's sponsors is, quite rightly, threatening to pull out. There is no way that people, in this day and age, should call other people the kind of things Shilpa has been called without someone giving them a "red card".
"Unedifying" is the most polite way to describe the whole saga.
Bad behaviour is unacceptable I agree. However why has there been no uproar when Jermaine Jackson referred to some of his housemates using the racist term "white trash"?
ReplyDeleteRead Germaine Greer's article for a more balanced view of events in the house.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,,1991890,00.html
Trevor Phillips, I'm sure they could not pay him enough to take this on. I'm very cycnical about it really, Shetty has got the "exposure" she is there for, and Endemol must be laughing all the way to the proverbial.
I doubt that it was raised in the House of Commons is anything other than a sign of Keith Vaz fancied some free publicity...
ReplyDeleteThank you Plurabella - good point. I wouldn't be offended in the slightest by the term "white trash" if it was directed at me...but perhaps I ought to get out more.
ReplyDeleteI think that bb should send someone with indian background into the house to befriend and backup shilpa.
ReplyDeleteIve been bullied in the past with racial undertones and it is not pleasant.
jade is obviously still as ignorant as she was 4 years ago and doesn't seem to realise the impact she is making, especially when she supposed to be part of an antibullying group!
Thank you very much for that comment, Anonymous. I agree that Shilpa should have some back-up. But she seems to be bearing up to it very well. I think Jade has come out of this extremely badly. I doubt whether Jonathan Ross will ever interview her again.
ReplyDeleteProgrammes like Big Brother are designed to create personal bondings and rivalries precisely to create an "entertaining" show (not my cup of tea though).
ReplyDeleteJust because the "Asian Network" has picked up on it and clogged the complaints phoneline does not mean it is racist or bullying. It was just the normal banter one would expect on this type of programme, but, as always, because the one getting the brunt of it this time is an "Asian" the PC brigade frog-march in.
Mr Hain, on Radio 4, was condemning C4 and Big Brother and everyone in it, but when pushed to identify what had been said or done, he didn't have a clue!!
Although this is "big news" in India at the moment, if you follow what they [in India] say about Shetty she is not an 'A' list celeb, but a 'B' list celeb. The reason she is 'B' list celeb in India is because she is a mixed race Tamil.
Pot, kettle, black, springs to mind.
As well as having a PC dictionary and phrase book, we'll soon need to carry a sign like deaf people, but instead of reading, "Please don't talk to me I'm deaf", it will read, "Please don't talk to me as I may offend you and end up in prison". How's that for community cohesion?
Mind you, Shetty will be 'A' list now.
ReplyDeletePerhaps she can cook a chicken properly.
Perhaps her agent thinks everything has gone according to plan.
And what exactly do "Asians" use their hands for?
Has someone suggested that Jade is put in prison? Excellent idea!
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