Charley: Emily should have been ejected

Big Brother contestant Charley Uchea said that it was right that fellow contestant Emily Parr was ejected from the show for using a racially offensive word.

The incident happened in June at the beginning of the current series of the Channel 4 reality show.

Speaking today at a MGEITF panel session - called 'Mind Your Language' - which discussed supposed racist vocabulary in TV, she said: "I think she shouldn't have used it. Whether she was trying to 'get down with it', I don't know. You shouldn't say it, whatever colour you are. So yeah, she should have been removed from the house."

When asked why she thought the term was offensive, Uchea said: "I think it brings it back from 'olden days'. So many people were hurt by it, in 'slave days'. I think the word's terrible. I didn't go on a bloody TV show to be called the 'n' word."

Of the rest of the series of Big Brother, Uchea said it was "boring," and was not as good as when she was in the house. "Oh come on - it was the Charley show!" she added.

Comedian Reginald D Hunter, who was on the panel with Uchea - and has previously used the 'n' word in his stand-up show - said: "There's a difference from using something that's wrong, and something that upsets people. Language will go the way that language will go, it's evolving."

With regards to whether he used such language to make a point or to attract attention so his show would make more money, Hunter said: "Neither. It made me laugh. That's why I write stuff."

But Uchea argued back, stating that someone like Hunter "shouldn't be saying it" because he was "making a joke", and making it acceptable for people to say the word.

Hunter said later that he didn't want to use different language in his show to protect those not intelligent enough to recognise its context. He said: "I have a problem with watching what we say and do because of stupid people and children."