Are the Celeb Big Brother housemates racist?

There have now been at least 16,500 complaints about Celebrity Big Brother, with many of them alleging a racist campaign by some housemates directed at Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty.

Has Channel 4 done anything to stop this? No. Of course, Channel 4 abhors racism, but secretly knows that Big Brother can't survive without media controversy.

After the golden ticket "scandal" housemates magically reappearing after eviction, George Galloway impersonating a cat, we have Asian housemate Shilpa Shetty suffering bullying from a coven in the form of beauty queen Danielle, who has never looked more ugly, ex S Club 7 singer Jo and reality queen bee Jade Goody.

Last night, the trio's emnity against Shilpa exploded because Shetty a) went and lay down on her bed, b) put on her fairy wings because she was depressed and c) wanted to cook the chicken for 45 minutes. That's it. I didn't see any racism when I watched last night, just a trio of complete bitches making life thoroughly unpleasant for someone else.

Ofcom confirms that it will investigate the thousands of complaints pouring in. Channel 4 said it would take any allegations seriously, but that it had not received any complaints from Shilpa herself. It must be loving the coverage!

Firstly there was Jackiey Budden, Jade's mum, whom Davina called an "awesome housemate", finding it impossible to call Shilpa by her proper name and them labelling her "the Indian".

To add to this was the Times of India alleging that Jack had called Shilpa a "fucking Paki". Channel 4 later insisted he had actually called her a "cunt" - not racist, just misogynist and abusive.


Well, it matters here, if the media interest is anything to go by. The deeply unpleasant scenes in the house and the controversy they have generated may well be enough to rescue Celebrity Big Brother's flatlining ratings.

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