'Big Brother' viewers urge network to boot racist, homophobic players
TODAY - Fans have had enough! On Sunday night, "Big Brother" finally aired a brief glimpse of some of the controversial content that made headlines recently, and viewers weren't happy with what they saw.
TODAY – Fans have had enough! On Sunday night, “Big Brother” finally aired a brief glimpse of some of the controversial content that made headlines recently, and viewers weren’t happy with what they saw.
In fact, many viewers want to make sure they never have to see it again — and not just due to clever editing. They want the players responsible for the offensive comments out of the house.
“CBS!!!!! After watching Sunday’s show, 22 of us will not be watching any longer unless Arryn is kicked off the show,” fan (or former fan) Rick Reimer said in a post on the official “Big Brother” Facebook page. “Her RACIST remarks cannot be allowed. We will also be boycotting any product that is advertised during the show. I hope others will follow our lead.”
Reimer and his 21 unidentified allies weren’t alone in the call to action.
Wendy Berry added, “It’s funny how what three people have said on this show was bad enough that they’ve lost their job(s) however it’s not bad enough to boot them off the show. Maybe the show should be renamed to Big Bigots.”
Amy Williams agreed with the others, but also had a problem with CBS’ decision to air the comments at all.
“Pretty sure that Aaryn should be kicked off the show for the slew of racist comments that were just shown on national television,” show wrote to the same Facebook page. “Televising those comments should not have happened.”
But according to some, CBS didn’t go far enough. Sure, the network showed racist and homophobic comments from contestants Aaryn Gries and GinaMarie Zimmerman, but they didn’t show the sexist or anti-Semitic comments Spencer Clawson has uttered in the house, or the numerous other inappropriate comments from other houseguests.
“Kaitlin Barnaby, Jeremy McGuire, David Girton and Spencer Clawson have also said things of the same nature,” TODAY reader Godabed pointed out.
Katesus7 shared a similar sentiment on the “Big Brother” forums at Television Without Pity.
“They put it almost all on Aaryn, with one blink and you missed it comment by Gina Marie, they had several HGs give PC diary rooms about how offended they were, and not one word about all the other (expletive) said about Andy and the women by Spencer or Jeremy, who got off scott free,” the viewer wrote. “Basically, CBS said ‘oh, all right, enough people rose a stink so we’ll give you your little segment. Now shut up and start voting for Spencer or Nick to win MVP!’ It was just extremely unsatisfying. Although I guess it’s still more than I thought they’d show.”
“We are very mindful of the important issues that have been raised by these recent comments,” CBS said in a statement shared with TODAY.com on Monday. “With regard to the broadcast version, we are weighing carefully issues of broadcast standards, an obligation to inform the audience of important elements that influence the competition, and sensitivity to how any inappropriate comments are presented.”
Host Julie Chen also said on “The Talk” Monday that the network chose to air the comments because they were now having an impact on the game play. “You can’t just put it in there and say, ‘Judge her, everybody,” she said.
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