Hundreds Rally Against C4’s Decision To Evict ‘Racist’ Housemate

Channel 4 continues to keep Big Brother in the spotlight, after the broadcaster announced it has had more than 900 complaints saying it should not have removed a contestant yesterday after she made racist remarks.

Yesterday, Channel 4 executives took the decision to remove Emily Parr from the “reality” game show’s house after aiming a racially offensive word at another housemate (see Big Bro Contestant Booted Off For Racist Comment).

The incident comes hot on the heels of Ofcom’s ruling over C4’s failures during the Celebrity Big Brother race row last year (see Ofcom Announces Celebrity Big Brother Ruling).

A Channel 4 spokesman told MediaGuardian that by around 2pm today the broadcaster had received 922 complaints saying that Parr should not have been taken out of the house.

The spokesman added that another 68 calls had come through praising the broadcaster’s handling of the situation.

Channel 4’s swift action over this incident has been criticised, leading some to suspect the whole thing was part of an orchestrated campaign.

Last night’s show, in which the incident and Parr’s subsequent removal was screened, was seen by an average of more than 4.2 million adults (a 23.7% viewing share), up by a million from the previous night’s show (see Channel 4’s Diana Doco Watched By More Adults Than BB).

This afternoon Ofcom had received 270 complaints about last night’s Big Brother episode, although a spokeswoman said the regulator could not comment on what aspect of the show the complaints were about.

The current Big Brother series had already been the subject of 60 other complaints to Ofcom about a variety of other issues.

Channel 4 has cancelled tonight’s Big Brother eviction vote which was due to feature Parr and Shabnam Paryani. It will now introduce two men to the house to join the other hormone-charged housemates.

The broadcaster has also said it will not make any money from the telephone votes, and has announced a selection of charities that will recieve any profits (see Channel 4 Reveals Big Brother Charity Beneficiaries).

Channel 4: 020 7396 4444 www.channel4.com