[Mrluvaluva]

From Sky News

Channel 4 received nearly 1,000 complaints about last night's Big Brother episode - all saying Emily Parr should not have been evicted.

Evicted: Emily ParrThe 19-year-old drama student was thrown out of the house after she called black contestant Charley Uchea a "******".

Last night's show attracted an average of 4.6 million viewers - peaking at five million - which is the highest audience of the current series since launch night.

As well as 922 complaints backing Parr, the broadcaster also received 68 messages supporting its stance.

Media watchdog Ofcom received 140 complaints, but the nature of the calls was not revealed.

Instead of tonight's planned eviction, which has now been cancelled, two more men will enter the house.

Channel 4 bosses acted quickly after being damaged by the last series of Celebrity Big Brother, when they were accused of not taking allegations of racist abuse seriously enough.

The race row earlier this year involving Jade Goody, Danielle Lloyd, Jo O'Meara and Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty sparked over 44,000 complaints.

But Channel 4 bosses faced criticism again for deciding to screen the word in last night's highlights show - which it said was done to give context to the day's events.

A brief warning that it contained "racially offensive language and strong language" was given before the show started and the word is to be bleeped over in streaming on E4 and in any repeats.

Charley, Emily and Nicky Maxwell were standing in the garden at around 8.30pm on Wednesday night when the incident took place.

Charley started to stick out her stomach and Emily said: "You're pushing it out, you ******."

Both Charley and Nicky told her they were shocked by what she had said.

At 3am the following morning Emily was woken and called into the diary room, where she defended herself by saying she had not meant to be offensive.

Shilpa Shetty"Where I come from, it's just like a friendly term you know, making fun of people, being in a group, pally," she said.

She added: "It wasn't the smartest move to make. Oh my god, I'm so sorry. I am so sorry - I really didn't mean it offensively..."

Head of the Big Brother commissioning team for Channel 4, Angela Jain, said the word was used "carelessly rather than maliciously" but that it was "clearly racially offensive".

The Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) said: "Whichever way you look at it, the 'N' word is clearly offensive", but added that it was relieved Channel 4 had acted so quickly.

Pressure group Mediawatch condemned the decision to broadcast the offensive word.

National spokesman Dave Turtle said: "They shouldn't broadcast any material which is racially offensive. This will certainly undermine the programme and more importantly, cause resentment. It's very unhelpful."

Shilpa Shetty said: "I'm glad that Channel 4 has taken action. Well I'm really happy and I compliment them on the action they have taken."

[Princess]

Ridiculous!!!!

[alp882]

good I am going to complain too, it would only have been wrong what she said if it was said in an aggressive way.

[GhettoSuperstar]

Look at it this way...

There will be complaints if she gets chucked out and there will be complains if she stays.
C4 made the right decision.

[Chrizzle]

Pathetic

[Dan_]

Originally posted by alp882
good I am going to complain too, it would only have been wrong what she said if it was said in an aggressive way.

There's no justification for her to be using that word, aggressive or not.

[Rory]

Nah, she can't go back in. So no more eye candy in the house...besides Carole!

[Lance]

Just can't win nowadays.

Imagine the complaints if she hadn't been removed.

[Arneldo]

Any excuse to ring the good people of Ofcom, eh?

I bet if BB didn't remove her from the house more then that would have complained. There is no pleasing people, no matter which way it went people would have complained. It's ridiculous.

1,000 complaints? Does anyone know how many members there are in the BNP?

[Mrluvaluva]

Originally posted by Rory
Nah, she can't go back in. So no more eye candy in the house...besides Carole!

Carole! Phwooaaarrr!!!!

[the_chosen_one]

Glad to see equality is still being supported.

Originally posted by Lance
Just can't win nowadays.

Imagine the complaints if she hadn't been removed.

Agreed. It's an issue which must be faced.

[Wiglet]

Damned if you do and damned if you don't .........

[MarkWaldorf]

I told you this would happen!!!!!
People made it a big deal, and now it's 'become' one.

[Ruth*Star]

^^Exactly, they would have came under flak if they had ignored it.

[MarkWaldorf]

Oh wait, is it for her to come back?

[Mrluvaluva]

Complaints are at her removal from the house Mark.

[alp882]

Dan_

I agree with what you said but why on earth is Ok for Charlie to say ******

[sunlight]

i just think people have got used to people talking bad about black people. that's why some don't think it matters any more.

[Sam]

Originally posted by wiglet
Damned if you do and damned if you don't .........

Exactly, couldnt have put it better myself

[MarkWaldorf]

Originally posted by Mrluvaluva
Complaints are at her removal from the house Mark.

Ahh! Thanks.
Well I agree with them, she shouldn't have been removed.

[JOSHUAH!]

Look at it this way. Channel 4 would never have won either way.
If she hadn't been thrown out the other half of people would of been complaining that she wasnt being chucked out.
and vice versa.

[Wiglet]

Watching her this morning (as I fell asleep last night), I know she was half asleep but there really was no excuse for what she did. One minute saying it wasn't offensive and the next saying it would like that way?

I felt for her I really did but look at it this way. If you had a job and you failed to abide by the rules whatever they were, you are given your chances, but if it is something serious then this can be considered gross misconduct and for that there is instant dismissal. This is what happaned to Emily.

She knew the rules and that 'slip of the tongue' cost her any further time in the house; (which may have been only a couple of days anyway)?

I can't understand why people are wasting their time contacting channel 4 over this? There are more important things going on in the world?

[Sunny_01]

its a no win thing for the production team, at the end of the day the did what they felt was right!

I cant see how Ofcom can do anything about them removing someone from the house if they look at the decision making process and how the decision was reached.

[InTheFade]

Originally posted by GhettoSuperstar
Look at it this way...

There will be complaints if she gets chucked out and there will be complains if she stays.
C4 made the right decision.

Exactly, they can never win!!!

[JOSHUAH!]

If OFCOM gives them a hard time for this its just daft, because OFCOM had a go at them for letting it go so far with CBB.