[Babayaro.]

To be fair, we've heard a lot worse over the last 16 years. As distasteful as it was, it was clearly just a silly joke

[Jan S]

the man's like so many old people - they don't see how their comments and attitudes can cause offence and are often quite bewildered and upset when people call them out on it. the trouble is, he's only 67 - 10 years older than me - and his views are like those i'd hear aired by some 80 year old volunteer ladies in the shop i used to work in. 10 years is a blink of an eye, and yet he's like a dinosaur. a dinosaur that has, till now, been able to cover his generally unpleasant personality behind the big bright biggins persona.

just like most those older people who get called on their bigotry, he does the whole 'but i have friends who are a/b/c so i can't be...'. The thing is, the kind of jokes he might be able to crack with leslie joseph and not offend aren't necessarily going to be taken the same way by others who don't know him or who are prepared to ignore his off-colour remarks for the sake of showbiz luvviness.

he's a bigot & a liability on the show, though he's in good company with that latter observation.

[Jan S]

it also annoyed me how he slipped in that katie was 'clearly a young girl with issues' as some sort of excuse about her reaction to his clumsy, outdated humour - blaming her is not an action of a man sorry for the effect of his words, it's a shifting of the blame from himself to her.

[Maru]

Originally Posted by Jan S

the man's like so many old people - they don't see how their comments and attitudes can cause offence and are often quite bewildered and upset when people call them out on it. the trouble is, he's only 67 - 10 years older than me - and his views are like those i'd hear aired by some 80 year old volunteer ladies in the shop i used to work in. 10 years is a blink of an eye, and yet he's like a dinosaur. a dinosaur that has, till now, been able to cover his generally unpleasant personality behind the big bright biggins persona.

just like most those older people who get called on their bigotry, he does the whole 'but i have friends who are a/b/c so i can't be...'. The thing is, the kind of jokes he might be able to crack with leslie joseph and not offend aren't necessarily going to be taken the same way by others who don't know him or who are prepared to ignore his off-colour remarks for the sake of showbiz luvviness.

he's a bigot & a liability on the show, though he's in good company with that latter observation.

I love this comment. These are aspects I always consider with much older cast members. It is common that they lose some of their filter as they age. It's a lot like going backwards in brain development/time. Just like children's brains develop over time they're more prone to say inappropriate things and with the elderly as it is similar. They're not able to control emotions as well, can fly off the handle over the slightest thing and tend to be more anxious around unfamiliar surroundings or people. I've done care-taking so I've had to 'catch' things like this.

It's majorly exacerbated with people who are shut-in's to begin with or people who just never were big "thinkers". The only way to really combat mental decline is to stimulate the mind, play puzzles, watch TV shows, stay in contact with the outside world... in other words, stay stimulated. People who don't do those things or lead a very isolated/sedentary lifestyle tend to regress a lot faster imo.

I think in Biggin's it's fairly mild, but for all we know, his outside life is a huge air bubble like you said and that this strong of an opinion is accepted by his peers... or he is not used to strong personalities or people who can contradict him so he is trying to "win" people over by having 'strong' opinions (i.e. race to be the fastest moron...)... I feel it's a mix of both.

I saw it really bad in Angie though. She should've never been cast. I think at one point she said she was a shut-in and I could totally see it.

Brain Atrophy In Elderly Leads To Unintended Racism, Depression And Problem Gambling
https://www.sciencedaily.com/release...0921100332.htm

Notice what I italicized in the header...

[Cherie]

Originally Posted by Babayaro.

To be fair, we've heard a lot worse over the last 16 years. As distasteful as it was, it was clearly just a silly joke

Indeed, if there was malicious intent I could understand the removal, We can look forward to Geordie Shore/Towie types in future they will be the only one willing to do the show

[Jan S]

Originally Posted by Cherie

Indeed, if there was malicious intent I could understand the removal, We can look forward to Geordie Shore/Towie types in future they will be the only one willing to do the show

someone can do a whole lot of damage without deliberate malicious intent, and if anything the show has bent over backwards keeping the worst of his gaffes off air. it's the cumulative effect of his continued remarks they have had to address.

[Cherie]

Originally Posted by Jan S

someone can do a whole lot of damage without deliberate malicious intent, and if anything the show has bent over backwards keeping the worst of his gaffes off air. it's the cumulative effect of his continued remarks they have had to address.

Isn't this what BB is meant to do, test mental strength, I doubt Katie was that bothered really, she seems to be very fragile mentally in there, even nominating Bear reduced her to tears for some unknown reason, they should have shown the footage, then put him up for eviction, they had ample opportunity to put him straight up with all his nomination talk.

[bots]

Originally Posted by Cherie

Isn't this what BB is meant to do, test mental strength, I doubt Katie was that bothered really, she seems to be very fragile mentally in there, even nominating Bear reduced her to tears for some unknown reason, they should have shown the footage, then put him up for eviction, they had ample opportunity to put him straight up with all his nomination talk.

there in lies the problem, because if you left him in, you would get groups forming for and against his attitude where his attitude is not up for discussion, he is a bigot. The issue is not about free speech but allowing someone in a privileged position to put his bigoted views across unchallenged and without balance

[Cherie]

Originally Posted by bitontheslide

there in lies the problem, because if you left him in, you would get groups forming for and against his attitude where his attitude is not up for discussion, he is a bigot. The issue is not about free speech but allowing someone in a privileged position to put his bigoted views across unchallenged and without balance

I'm pretty sure it will emerge James or others questioned him, but it's been cut in favour of Bear's tonsil tennis :unimpressed:

[Ellen]

Originally Posted by Cherie

Indeed, if there was malicious intent I could understand the removal, We can look forward to Geordie Shore/Towie types in future they will be the only one willing to do the show

I agree Cherie, the only thing we are going to get in future are Bear/Marnie/ Lewis types

[Robodog]

Originally Posted by Cherie

Indeed, if there was malicious intent I could understand the removal, We can look forward to Geordie Shore/Towie types in future they will be the only one willing to do the show

Agreed. If that is all he said, then it seems there was no malicious intent from Biggins. It was a joke (albeit a tasteless one about the sensitive and upsetting subject of death camps).

It wasn't a joke aimed at the jewish community, it wasn't even a joke ABOUT the jewish community, it was a joke aimed at Big Brother itself, by comparing them/the house/the regime of the show to that of a death camp.

Also Biggins didn't specify he was talking about Nazi-German Camps. Death camps have happened all over the world, not just in Nazi Germany.

Nor did he mention jewish people. Not only jewish people were killed in Nazi death camps but many people of various races, religions, sexuality and beliefs including homosexuals, intellectuals and artists - people/communities who Biggins himself identifies with i'm sure.

His joke didn't target any one group of people, his joke targeted Big Brother themselves. He used a tasteless comparison about a sensitive subject, but his joke was certainly 'anti-regime' and not 'anti-community'..

And it's not anything new to make jokes about death camps/nazis/world war 2. It's been happening ever since on a mainstream level. Think how successful 'The Producers' is as a film and a Broadway musical, it's full of nazi jokes. And what about sit-coms such as Allo Allo?

Do we all now want to feel we can no longer make jokes/comments about world war 2 (or other upsetting subjects) without fear of 'punishment'? Ironically, isn't that what happened during world war 2?

.