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MUMBAI:
UK media watchdog Ofcom has reprimanded Channel 4 for the
Big Brother controversy that occured earlier this year
involving Indian actress Shilpa Shetty.
The broadcaster will issue three on-air apologies before the
next series of the reality show launches next week.
Ofcom
says that the channel covered up racial incidents. There were
incidents of racism that took place in the home that were
not aired. Channel 4 has to also publish transcripts of a
series of previously unheard and potentially racist conversations
that took place within the Celebrity Big Brother house.
Ofcom,
notes that as the series progressed, disagreements began to
develop between some of the housemates, in particular, between
Shilpa Shetty on the one hand and Jade Goody, Jo O’Meara
and Danielle Lloyd on the other. Viewers, and others who were
aware of the events in the House, became increasingly concerned
that Shilpa Shetty was being subjected to bullying, some alleging
that the bullying was racist. Ofcom received just over 44,500
complaints about Celebrity Big Brother 2007.
Ofcom
considered whether a number of events in the House were in
compliance with the Broadcasting Code. It has found that there
were three events which were broadcast during the series which
were in breach of the Code. In the three incidents, Channel
Four failed to appropriately handle the material so as to
adequately protect members of the public from offensive material:
There
were remarks made about about Cooking in India. Then there
was the “Fuck off home” comment and “Shilpa
Poppadom” comment.
In
terms of comments that were not aired Jade Goody is heard
speculating whether Danielle Lloyd used "the p-word"
and she referrs to Shetty as "Shilpa Pashwa whoever you
fucking are" and "Shilpa Poppadom". This insult
was repeated the following day.
What
is worse is that senior management continued to deny the existence
of racism in the house even after knowing that one of the
contestants had been reprimanded for that by the show's producers.
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