British reality tv show Big Brother has hit the headlines this week after tv regulator Offcom received over 30,000 calls from viewers condemning the racist bullying of Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty. The show caused a major diplomatic and political incident as effigies of Big Brother bosses were burnt in India and Gordon Brown’s current tour to promote British trade in India was overshadowed by the row. India’s External Affairs Minister has confirmed she will be making a complaint to the British government. Culture Minister Tessa Jowell condemned the show for promoting racism as entertainment. Shilpa Shetty was reduced to tears by racist taunts and remarks made by housemates Jade Goodey and her pals Danielle Lloyd and Jo O’Meara. After a heated argument with Jade, Shilpa asked fellow housemate Cleo Rocos why she was so hated and detested. Shilpa said that she was representing her country and asked Cleo if this was what today’s UK was like. It’s a shame that Shilpa has been given such a bad impression of this country by such a narrow minded group of individuals. Fortunately Jade and her friends represent the attitude of only a small minority of people in England. The majority of people like myself abhor racism and believe in equal opportunities for all. Watching the behaviour of Jade, Danielle and Jo towards Shilpa made me ashamed to be British. It’s a disgrace and more importantly incidents like this set a very bad precedent. They send out the wrong message entirely to viewers, namely that it is acceptable to pick on people because they are different and ridicule their culture and everything they believe in. Surely Channel 4 cannot condone this sort of behaviour. To class this as entertainment in a multi-cultural society like Britain is totally unacceptable.
PHOTO:- COURTESY OF YAHOO NEWS
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