Friday, January 19, 2007

Celebrity Big Brother UK

This past week has seen Celebrity Big Brother UK hit news headlines across the world. It's been talked about by politicians and the public because of the seemingly racist remarks made towards a housemate, Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty.

It all started when some celebrities, Jade Goody (famous for appearing in Big Brother 3), Danielle Lloyd (a former Miss Great Britain), Jo O'Meara (former singer from the pop group S Club 7) and Jade's 'none celebrity in my eyes' boyfriend Jack Tweedy, started talking about Shilpa and making a joke out of her. Jade's mother (Jackiey) first brought it to a head by failing to pronounce Shilpa's name correctly and started called her "The Indian" and "Princess". Since then, things have gone downhill and Goody and Co have formed a group who seem to spend most of their time talking about Shilpa and mimicking her voice. Other housemates realise there's a problem and have done their best to try and calm things down. Some housemates have even been in tears because of the amount of bullying they see around them.

They have passed comments about how she used her hands to touch food, which prompted Danielle to say "You don't know where those hands have been". When she poured the left-over chicken soup down the toilet, they made a comment that there could have been chicken bones in there and it could cause a blockage. Jack then suggested that Shilpa "pick them out with her teeth" to which she replied "There's a lot more I would rather do with my teeth"
Shilpa has been reduced to tears a lot but she told Big Brother that she didnt feel the bullying was meant in any racist way. The public dont agree and thousands of people have complained about the goings on. Big Brother's sponsor, The Carphone Warehouse, have let it be known that they no longer wish to sponsor the show and will withdraw after the show finishes. Jade's perfume line has been removed from some stores because they feel she is being racist and a contract for Danielle had been removed too.
Tonight, both Jade and Shilpa are up for eviction and one daily newspaper are calling for all their readers to vote to evict Jade. Big Brother have also said that tonights eviction will be without the usual crowd of fans waiting for the evicted housemate to leave.

I've been watching every day and I do feel that what they are doing isnt called for at all. I can understand that not everyone can get along and I'm just wondering if there would be so much of a uproar if they were bullying someone of the same race as them. Will this be the kick people need to recognize what bullying actually is? For years thousands of kids have been subject to bullying. I use to be one of them, as I'm sure some people reading this were too. 100's of kids couldnt take it anymore and ended up taking their lives. Will this stop people burying their heads in the sand, and make them sit up and do something about it? To be honest, I highly doubt it. After a while, it will all be forgotten. Like everything seems to be these days. It's a shame that we cant all exist together as mixed race people. All races are to blame. Sorry for saying that because I know there are a lot of good people out there but we have to see it for the way it is. We have to sit up and pay attention and try and do something about it. Starting a war isnt the answer either (although it seems to be for people in power). I don't know the answer. I wish I did.

You can read the story here and there is also links on that page to read past stories about this whole situation.

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