ITC Dismisses Race Complaints Against Big Brother

The ITC has refused to uphold complaints against Channel 4 after 10 viewers objected to an episode of Big Brother that featured contest, Tim Culley, telling a racist joke.

The viewers felt it was inappropriate to broadcast the joke, despite the fact Culley did not specifically refer to an ethnic group. Channel 4 felt that cutting out the discussion from its broadcast would be an unacceptable form of censorship and claimed it did not take the decision lightly. After the joke was told, the rest of the housemates stopped contributing to the conversation and Channel 4 argued that there was suddenly a strong sense that the fun had been brought to an end. Channel 4 also believed that the transmission of the comments provided a revealing insight into the attitudes of the housemates.

In a separate decision, the ITC upheld complaints against the programme for bad language in broadcasts on both E4 and Channel 4 on three separate occasions.

The ITC has also upheld complaints against the talk show Trisha and its series Britains Biggest Love Rats. The show contained live results of paternity tests, which were announced after the audience chanted “who’s the daddy”. The show was broadcast on ITV directly after children’s programmes and the ITC felt the confrontational approach of the programme combined with its adult theme made it unsuitable for broadcasting at 5pm.

ITC: 0207 306 7743 www.itc.org.uk

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