Celebrity Big Brother (British series 5) racism controversy
The Celebrity Big Brother racism controversy was a series of events related to incidents of racist behaviour by contestants on the fifth series of the British reality television show Celebrity Big Brother, broadcast on British television station Channel 4 in January 2007. The controversy centred on comments made by British contestants Jade Goody, Jackiey Budden, Danielle Lloyd, and Jo O'Meara, concerning Indian contestant Shilpa Shetty. The screening of these comments on UK television resulted in national and international media coverage, responses from the UK and Indian governments, and the show's suspension during the 2008 season. Many agencies and corporations cancelled their contracts with the housemates accused of racism, citing the allegations as the reason for the terminations. Also, many sponsors of the Big Brother series cancelled their sponsorship of the show. After the show, Goody stated that she understood her comments appeared as racist and apologised for any offence caused. Shetty later told the media that she forgave Goody. After conducting an investigation, Ofcom ruled that Channel 4 had breached the Broadcasting Code, and statutory sanctions were placed on the network. Events of Celebrity Big Brother 5 The fifth UK series of Celebrity Big Brother began on 3 January 2007. 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. Each day, Channel 4 broadcast a daily "highlights" show, featuring selected events of the previous 24 hours in the house. This was repeated the following morning with potentially objectionable content removed for pre-watershed broadcasting. Budden and Shetty clashed on numerous occasions. Budden said she was unable to pronounce the name "Shilpa", and referred to Shetty as "Princess" and "the Indian". During her eviction interview on 10 January, after Budden used the term "the Indian", the presenter Davina McCall did not question her use of the term but focused instead on Budden's failure to pronounce "Shilpa" properly. After Budden's eviction, Tweed called Shetty a "cunt", which was bleeped for broadcast, and a "wanker". The night that Carole Malone was evicted, Lloyd referred to Shetty as a "dog". The following day, Shetty cooked a chicken meal for the housemates. According to Lloyd and O’Meara, Shetty had undercooked the chicken. 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." Lloyd also mentioned that she did not like Shetty touching her food because she did not "know where her hands have been". On Tuesday, 16 January, an argument between Shetty and Goody erupted, seemingly over Oxo Cubes. Goody told Shetty that she was "no fucking princess here", "normal" and needed "a day in the slums", while Shetty told Goody that she needed etiquette classes and that her "claim to fame was [Big