CBS' Big Brother was placed on the spotlight lately after some its fans have slammed houseguests on the 21st season for alleged racist remarks and behavior. CBS and the producers of the show released a statement on Thursday that to address the concern.
The company said that Big Brother is a multi-platform reality competition show about a group of people who live in a house for several months with no contact from the outside world. Adding that, the audience can view the show during the multiple weekly broadcasts as well as on the 24/7 live, online stream, which captures unedited content of the contestants unfiltered moments in the House.
CBS said that sometimes the Houseguests say things that we do not condone. The statement said that the company shares some of the viewers' concerns about inappropriate behavior and offensive comments, and producers have addressed specific incidents with the Houseguests involved.
The joint statement said that there is no truth that the casting of the show is racially motivated, that the Houseguests' behavior is predetermined or that the outcome is controlled in any way.
The eviction of three colored housemates angered some of the Big Brother fans who concluded the racism remark. Fans called out the show for the alleged "racism" from the other contestants when David Alexander, Ovi Kabir, and Kemi Fakunle were evicted on the show. One of the fans wrote on Twitter that CBS needs to do some explaining calling the incident terrible.
Another Twitter user said that the first 3 people voted out of Big Brother were people of color. Adding that the eviction says so much about the show and the society in general. The user also mentioned that the way some houseguests have acted towards these three has been vile, calling their act racist.
Some of the fans called out contestant Jack Matthews for his behavior towards Fakunle. The two are not in good terms. Other believe that Matthews's treatment towards her female housemate is based on racial reasons.
A petition on Change.org was started by a fan who wants Matthews expelled from the reality show. The petition gathered 7,700 signatures as of Wednesday evening. Their goal is to reach 10,000 signatures. Some of the fans criticized Big Brother on Twitter for not airing the alleged racism and bullying.
When the evicted housemates were interviewed by the Entertainment Weekly, Alexander said that based on my awareness and reading people and seeing how Kemi and Ovi worked the social game, and based on me being banished and just losing the first comp, which felt like the lucky comp, he doesn't think it was racial.
