'Big Brother' racism creates controversy for popular CBS reality show

• Share on Facebook
• Share on Twitter
• Share via Email
• Copy Link

  Link Copied

The 15th season of CBS’ “Big Brother” kicked off just one week ago, and evidently, that’s more than enough time to kick off some controversy.

As the new houseguests settled in to their summer home and started bonding with their fellow players, some of them have shown their less-than-TV-friendly sides.

In fact, the worst of the behavior — which has included undeniably racist, sexist and homophobic remarks — hasn’t even made it to the small screen at all. Instead, live-feed viewers, who pay a subscription to see the events in the house as they happen on the “Big Brother” website, watched the action and uploaded the evidence to YouTube (the clips have since been removed “due to copyright claim by Endemol USA Inc,” the production company behind “Big Brother”).

The offenses include frequent use of the N-word and gay slurs by more than one contestant and much more. Some of the most shocking comments so far have come from what’s shaping up to be this season’s “Mean Girls” clique, made up of Aaryn Gries and GinaMarie Zimmerman.

Both Gries and Zimmerman slammed Korean-American housemate Helen Kim behind her back, each saying she should serve them some rice, with Zimmerman adding, “I’m gonna punch her in the face. I’m, like, ‘Oh, maybe it’ll make her eyes straight.”

The two have also bashed African-American contestant Candice Stewart, accusing her of letting her “blackness show.” Gries went so far as to warn her in-game ally to watch what she says in the dark because she “might not be able to see the b—-.”

Various slams from Kaitlin Barnaby, Jeremy McGuire, David Girton and Spencer Clawson have been somewhat less frequent, but just as upsetting to those watching the feeds. But why haven’t TV viewers seen or heard any of it?

That’s what some fans — and at least one past contestant — are asking.

Former “Big Brother” player Ragan Fox, who was part of the season 12 cast, posted an open letter to the production team on his blog.

“Houseguests GinaMarie, Aaryn, and Kaitlin referred to historically marginalized players as ‘tokens,'” Fox wrote. “Sadly, they aren’t too far off in their assessment. Characters like Andy (Herren), Candice, Howard (Overby), and Helen are reduced to mere tokens when production fails to include micro-aggressions that they have to endure on a day-to-day basis. What’s the point of casting racial, ethnic, and sexual minorities if production’s going to edit out the racism, ethnic discrimination, and homophobia that these people encounter inside the house?”

Click here to read more.