With the possible exception of very first series, Big Brother has been a blot on the TV landscape as far as I’m concerned. However, the current row about the treatment of Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty is showing the UK in a poor light.
I’ve not seen enough of the actual footage in context to offer informed comment on the situation, but from what I do know, I’ve decided to cast a vote in favour of keeping Shilpa in the house (by evicting Jade).
I’m rather annoyed that the programme makers are getting all this attention with their car crash TV, but I’m holding my nose, and hopefully casting a vote in favour of tolerance and diversity.
Channel 4 are being especially gutless, hypocritical and deceitful about this issue. From the comment about Shilpa herself not telling Big Brother she thought this was racist (a day _after_ she had been recorded telling a fellow housemate just that, although it had yet to be transmitted), the statement about C4 not tolerating racism despite the fact that’s exactly what they were doing, the ‘read the statement’ interview on the Today programme, and the excuses made by Russell Brand on the BB’s Big Mouth spin-off… utterly shameful.
Some good comments on Question Time last night, especially from sometime BB fans Edwina Currie and Shami Chakrabarti. The former saying that the three girls bullying Shilpa were ‘witches with a capital B’ and Shami pointing out that since the first series self-confessed ‘evil’ BB has openly been designed to cause tension and conflict between the housemates. She also criticised the ‘mirror on society’ defence, saying BB is a cracked, warped, distorting fairground mirror on society.
I haven’t watched any of this series, some of the quotes do seem to have been taken a little out of context (e.g. Jade’s slum comment) but there’s enough there to leave no doubt. The conflict may not be racially motivated but the three bullies are clearly conducting it using racist language that must reflect their beliefs.
Given that these things had been said, I think it was in the public interest for C4 to broadcast that fact. Censorship would only have protected the guilty. But given that there was actual racial abuse happening to a housemate, and C4’s professed intolerance of racism, they should have evicted Jade et al immediately.
My thoughts are, it’s a flipping tv program I can’t believe that it’s a headline story on the national news. Surely there are more important things going on in the world.
Yesterday for example, a number of people had died due to the worst storms seen for many years.
They were even talking about it in Parliament, ridiculous.
Gary, I think the concern is that it’s exposing several unpleasant aspects of british culture, and not just to UK citizens, but to the whole world.
My concern is that if Shilpa was evicted rather than Jade, it would send out a terrible message about the UK.
Whereas is if Jade is evicted, everyone will move on and no lasting damage will be done.
I think the main reason it has made the news – and especially been discussed in Parliament – is that it’s caused outrage in India (Shilpa being a household name there) during Gordon Brown’s visit as Prime Minister in waiting.
Maybe Jade was put up to it by Tony Blair?