TV
Peter Bazalgette has responded to the Celebrity Big Brother racism controversy for the first time.
In a piece for The Observer, Bazalgette - chairman of show producers Endemol UK - claimed that it was "absurd" to suggest that executives set out to present racism as entertainment.
The show attracted 50,000 complaints to TV regulator Ofcom last month when Jade Goody, Danielle Lloyd and Jo O'Meara were accused of racist behaviour towards Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty.
"Normal human behaviour in the Big Brother house includes the participants rowing and making up," Bazalgette explained. "And what even many of the show's biggest fans cannot believe is that such events are unplanned. The manipulative, all-seeing producers must have chosen Jade and Shilpa in order to provoke racial conflict. They do not understand that Big Brother is 12 characters in search of a story. The producers put this group together, but the cast wrote the script."
"Of course they fall out and take sides from time to time, but the production team finds that the housemates usually resolve their differences, as happened on this occasion when Jade and Shilpa made up," he continued. "All sorts of things occur in the house, but it is absurd to claim that this series was designed to serve up racism as entertainment."
Bazalgette also defended 25-year-old Goody - whose career is in tatters because of her behaviour on the show.
"I know Jade Goody and I do not believe her to be remotely racist," he said. "Her father is mixed race. She spent nine weeks in the Big Brother house in 2002 with three black people without the hint of a racist attitude. She had a blazing row with one of them, Adele, but that was about verrucas.
"Jade certainly has a temper and may be prone to bullying - not an attractive trait, but not a crime either."
In a piece for The Observer, Bazalgette - chairman of show producers Endemol UK - claimed that it was "absurd" to suggest that executives set out to present racism as entertainment.
The show attracted 50,000 complaints to TV regulator Ofcom last month when Jade Goody, Danielle Lloyd and Jo O'Meara were accused of racist behaviour towards Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty.
"Normal human behaviour in the Big Brother house includes the participants rowing and making up," Bazalgette explained. "And what even many of the show's biggest fans cannot believe is that such events are unplanned. The manipulative, all-seeing producers must have chosen Jade and Shilpa in order to provoke racial conflict. They do not understand that Big Brother is 12 characters in search of a story. The producers put this group together, but the cast wrote the script."
"Of course they fall out and take sides from time to time, but the production team finds that the housemates usually resolve their differences, as happened on this occasion when Jade and Shilpa made up," he continued. "All sorts of things occur in the house, but it is absurd to claim that this series was designed to serve up racism as entertainment."
Bazalgette also defended 25-year-old Goody - whose career is in tatters because of her behaviour on the show.
"I know Jade Goody and I do not believe her to be remotely racist," he said. "Her father is mixed race. She spent nine weeks in the Big Brother house in 2002 with three black people without the hint of a racist attitude. She had a blazing row with one of them, Adele, but that was about verrucas.
"Jade certainly has a temper and may be prone to bullying - not an attractive trait, but not a crime either."
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