Selfometer Articles

Celebrity Big Brother (CBB) and alleged racist bullying: Who were the real bullies?

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by B M Oldfield, 2007

Racist bullying is a behavioural and socially divisive issue, which requires serious debate. However, the mass frenzy over the alleged racist bullying in the recent CBB show, sadly points to a widespread inability of many, to differentiate between the victims of discrimination and the perpetrators of such behaviour. If one looks objectively at what really happened in the show, the real perpetrators were Shilpa Shetty, Jermaine Jackson and Channel 4 supported by Endemol, the media, politicians and members of the public. The real victims were Jade Goody and her mother Jackiey, Jo O'Meara and Danielle Lloyd.

Racist bullying is driven by a bigoted discriminative attitude, which is carried out, using deceitful tactics to manipulate other people’s feelings and emotions. This deceitful behaviour includes lying, defensiveness, offensiveness and, verbally abusive language and, sometimes, involving violence, directly against others. Shilpa distinguished between racism and bullying as she denied the former and instead, insisted she was bullied. While still in the house, Shilpa did not complain either to BB or any of the three girls that she was being racially bullied. However, she did contend to another housemate she was subjected to racial discrimination, which is inconsistent with, her later denial of this.

It was only after Shilpa had left the CBB house did she ever use the word 'bullied' regarding the way she perceived she had been treated in the house. Shilpa has consistently failed to give any reasons why, how and when she was bullied. She told the Daily Mirror she had no idea the bullying was so bad, until, she had watched the complete footage of her ordeal. Only those of us, who have truly experienced racist bullying, would know the true devastating effects and consequences, of having been at the receiving end of this hideous behaviour. Only those of us who have suffered such discrimination can truly feel, how wide and deep, the misery and pain really is!

Jo O'Meara has been shown in an interview on GMTV, sobbing and in deep distress saying that her life had been ruined and that she could not go home because of death threats. She spoke about wanting to self-harm and, of possibly contemplating suicide. Danielle and Jade have, also, both received death threats, and Jade is receiving psychiatric care. Jackiey has also been subjected to a vicious racist attack by four Asian youths. The perpetrators insist that this suffering was self-inflicted but I wish to show, that this could not be true.

Bullying is often perpetrated by personalities who may have all, or some of the following narcissistic characteristics; domineering, exploitive, envious of others, lacking empathy, preoccupied with success and power, and have strong beliefs in their own superiority. Bullies, as well as their victims, can come from, or have different, class, cultural, religious, racial, age, gender, language, accents, physical features, behavioural, educational and economic backgrounds or identities. Any or all of these differences may reinforce and/or be perceived as excuses by bullies for discrimination and intolerance.

Bullies primarily have a strong sense of superiority regarding their personal beliefs, opinions, values, background and identity, which they seem to need to reinforce and maintain. To achieve this, they often use strategies such as; demean other people's identities and backgrounds, recruit for support and sympathy other discriminative individuals with an equal sense of superiority; to pick on their victims and, deliberately raise petty and, unfair personal issues, to turn any of their victim's concerns into personal criticisms and, bad behaviour on their part, to say bad things about their victims to their faces, to deceitfully say bad things about their victims while stressing their own self-righteousness and superiority, usually to those people they recruit for support and sympathy.

Bullies discriminate against other people, who they perceive and treat as inferior usually for their own personal influence and gain. They also have; an inability to feel sorry for others, no guilt for their victim's suffering, cannot accept criticism, an excessive need for admiration, never admit their faults and are unable to relate to others. They also have, a sense of entitlement, a need to control others who must be subservient to them. Bullies are often arrogant but never ignorant of what they are doing.

Narcissistic motives and intentions may have been the underlying reasons why Jade, Jo, Danielle and Jackiey were discriminated against. This discrimination may be based on a 'perceived' view of the girl's lower social and educational background, varying accents, voice tone, and a so-called lower celebrity status. This demeaning perception also appeared to be fuelled by a resentment of their success, which in turn may have been a threat to certain housemate's need for admiration and success. They seem to need to be, in control and at the centre of attention both within the house and for the viewing public. Jade and the girls did not behave in this or any discriminatory way toward any of the housemates. Instead they, especially Jade, were the victims of a long and protracted discrimination, intolerance and bullying by certain other housemates, particularly Shilpa.

The older housemates have, in every BB show, bullied those younger and more vulnerable who, will naturally unite when shared age, social, and other backgrounds are being discriminated against. Such discrimination forces the victims to protect and support themselves. This is exactly what Jade, Jo and Danielle was forced to do, which could not, therefore, be Jade's recruitment of the other girls, in order to create a gang and then allegedly bully Shilpa?

It is essential that bystanders and members of the public report any racist bullying involving violence, but verbal racial abuse should be reported when it based on objective and informative choices and assessments. The truth is, Shilpa and those who made and supported the allegations against Jade share a set of discriminatory views proclaiming she is loud, not very clever, a bully, racist, bigot, cheap celebrity status etc. etc. all of which speak, disgust and envy. The other real truth is, Jade, throughout the CBB programme, showed a great deal of human empathy and a clear sense of shared human values and goals. She also demonstrated reason and a sense of fairness in argument, was never unkind, manipulative or petty and many of her comments during the row spoke of the real truth regarding human inequality, discrimination and bullying. While still in the house the journalist Carol Malone said, "I'm shocked by Jade completely surprised, I think she's a kind girl, a considerate girl."

On the other hand, the supporters of the allegations against Jade also perceived Shilpa as having behaved with dignity, did not ever swear or shout at anyone, that her different celebrity, class status, cultural and Indian background and so-called beauty were enough reasons for Jade to be jealous of, and so possibly bully, Shilpa. From what was shown on the programme Shilpa frequently swore, shouted at others, behaved in a deceitful, discriminative, controlling, manipulative and flirtatious way and repeatedly referred to her personal and cultural superiority over Jade and the girls and even of Britain itself.

Shilpa repeatedly spoke, of how "really, really hard" it was for her "to adjust to" and of "being in the same house with people from a different culture." On the day of, and just prior to the 'stock cube' row started by Shilpa, she comments in the Diary Room, "I just don't like things becoming petty, but the most difficult circumstance is being without my family, to be with people from a different culture altogether, to bond with them equally, to adjust to different accents, they all have different accents, but only mine is singled out." "If they came to India they wouldn't be able to speak the language I speak." And"I've come to their country, and I think I speak it very well. And I think my vocabulary is better than most of them, I'm so very proud of myself." "We're all from different cultures and different backgrounds, and different religions, but we still have blood running through our veins, that's the only common factor."

Throughout the show Shilpa also repeatedly spoke of a superiority of her intelligence, Indian culture, class and so-called celebrity background while she repeatedly and deceitfully demeaned these personal aspects of some of the housemates, especially Jade. Speaking with Jermaine about life in the CBB house, Shilpa said, "People who have achieved a lot and who have made it in life aren't flaky. We've made it. We've been there and done that...for most of the girls out there this is their one chance to make it, this is just one part of my life, it's not the be all and end all. Even for Jade this is a great platform."

This last sentence was said a few days prior to and repeated, during the 'stock cubes' row, where Shilpa had provoked Jade with a number of other derogatory remarks, "Oh please learn some manners. You know what you need? You need elocution classes Jade," and "You know what, lose your tone." Soon after the row she tells Jermaine "I cannot fight people like that, I'm not from the roadside, she must be and she is." And, "I will not have people talk to me like that. I will not. Through no fault of mine," It was Shilpa who started, prolonged and made no effort to stop the argument getting out of hand.

In reality, the 'stock-cube' argument lasted for about twenty minutes at the end of which, Jade began shouting at Shilpa. The short footage shown on all the News Channels could not possibly explain why or how Jade was doing this. The context and the development of the argument began and end, with both Shilpa and Channel 4. However, it was Shilpa who unfairly, perhaps maliciously, instigated this argument. Jade, Jo and Danielle had in fact answered and explained many of Shilpa's initial and ongoing questions. Their reasoned answers were not good enough, as Shilpa persisted that the stock cubes were the only thing she had ordered on the shopping list. Jade rightly maintained and repeatedly asked Shilpa to admit, this was not true. Instead, Shilpa turned Jade's questions into personal criticisms such as " You know what you need Jade, you need elocution lessons." Shilpa also made a litany of excuses and raised other irrelevant issues. The argument was therefore, provoked and prolonged by Shilpa, especially with her ongoing sense of superiority insisting, "I don't need to dignify this stupid argument." To exacerbate matters Shilpa told Jade to "shut up, shut up."

The footage of Jade shouting at Shilpa and repeatedly shown to the public on all the News Channels, points to an assumption, on the part of this media and in particular Channel 4, that this footage apparently represented the main evidence for Jade, Jo and Danielle's alleged racist bullying. This footage could not in any way, point to the 'developing' tensions created by the social engineering of the CBB show, by Channel 4 and Endemol. Nor could it show the tensions created and exacerbated by Shilpa's ongoing discriminatory, controlling and deceitful behaviour towards Jade and the girls. Throughout the show Channel 4 repeatedly failed to intervene with Shilpa's discriminative bullying behaviour and were therefore, complicit with Shilpa.

From the time that Jade and her family were introduced into the house they were repeatedly and unfairly singled out by Shilpa to again raise various other petty concerns. Rightly or wrongly these concerns were of a personal nature and the way in which they were raised, point to the difficulties Jade had to face in the house, especially in having to also deal with Shilpa's sense of superiority and deceit. As any human being would, Jade had desperately tried to protect herself and her mother. Jo and Danielle were also similarly affected. They must have felt very intimidated especially when their repeated efforts to try and embrace Shilpa were to no avail.

Jade's mother Jackiey was the first victim of Shilpa's behaviour. Sometime soon after Jackiey arrived in the house Shilpa insisted on pulling her into the bedroom to complain about some personal aspect of her behaviour, then insisted further on Jackiey going with her to the bathroom because, "I don't want to fight in front of the cameras." She also expressed her objection to Jackiey calling her 'princess', which Shilpa had previously embraced. Jackiey agreed to call Shilpa by her name and walked away but was then told by Shilpa, 'I'm not done yet'. Jackiey's difficulty in pronouncing Shilpa's name is a product of her Cockney glottal stop, meaning that she could not pronounce an L before a P.

Shilpa's defiant objection here, to being called 'princess' and Jackiey's difficulty in pronouncing her name may explain why she called Shilpa 'The Indian.' Shilpa yet again approached Jackiey and offered her a glass of water because she said she wanted Jackiey to "calm down". Jackiey told her she had wine and could she leave her alone. Prior to this incident, Shilpa, referring to Jackiey, asks Jermaine, "What is her frigging problem?" Jermaine says she has the right to speak her mind but 'warns' her Jackiey will come at her. Jackiey did not do this, as it was Shilpa, who soon after this conversation had approached Jackiey. Here Jermaine hid his apparent unremitting goading and support for Shilpa's treatment and dislike, of Jackiey.

Jade did not interfere, even though this scenario had plainly affected her. In another incident Ken Russell complained to Jackiey for having asked BB to alter the temperature of the air conditioning. Jackey tried to explain why she did this but Ken insisted "why don't you just dry up." Jade was naturally fed up with these attacks on her mother and in tears and distress complained to BB, who ignored her concerns. Ken's comments to Jackiey may have been intentional, since Shilpa seemingly sought his support and sympathy of her disgust of Jade and her family. She told Ken, "I can't get myself to mingle with them. Feel so contrived when I speak to them."

After Jade had arrived in the CBB house and within minutes, Shilpa pulled Jermaine into the toilet and insisted on whispering to him, "I can't stand her voice," "I won't be able to put up with it," and "it will get on my nerves." Throughout the show, during and after the 'stock cube' row, Shipa frequently spoke in very derogatory ways of Jade's accent, language, mannerisms, tone of voice, diction, vocabulary, celebrity origins/status and behaviour. In the Diary Room she repeatedly said; "I just don't like the way she speaks, that is my only complaint against Jade," but then adds, "She doesn't even understand half the vocabulary she uses." "I think she's really worked very hard to be where she is right now," and again then adds, "But oh, she definitely needs to brush up on some manners and the way she speaks." Even after Jade had left the house she told Ian, "I couldn't understand her language."

While Cleo, Jade, Danielle and Shilpa were sitting in the living area, Shilpa insisted, "I'm just someone who feels vibes, and it's negative." She then told Jade that she doesn't have to speak to her if she didn't want to. Jade replies "I have not ignored you at all." and asks, "What do you mean? I speak to you." Shilpa persists, "I can't take you talking at such volume." "Don't patronise me." says Jade, walking off. Shilpa however, continues with her onslaught shouting, "Patronise is the wrong word, sweetie," and "Learn the dictionary!" An argument ensues as Shilpa insists "Just speak to me with respect."

Shilpa seems to dislike Jade's tone of voice, which may be natural to Jade and should not and could not have been any reason for Shilpa to discriminate against and bully Jade. The reason lies elsewhere, seen in Shilpa's derogation of Jade's intelligence while insisting of her superiority in being spoken to with respect. The next day Shilpa goes to the diary room and said, "I won't patronise people," adding, "I want to be liked in the house by the time I leave. I just want people to have liked knowing me."

After Jade left the CBB house Danielle seemed to have been the next target for more discrimination, and a possible threat to Shilpa's seeming underlying motives for admiration and success. During a long and deceitful conversation behind Danielle's back, Ian and Shilpa both spoke in demeaning and mocking personal ways about Danielle. A few of the many comments; Shilpa, "she's a package" and "what stands out for Danielle is her stupidity." Ian said, "Some people need to be dominated," and "Danielle looks up to dominant people."

In all the mass frenzy no one mentioned, that Jade, Jo and Danielle had always been considerate to Shilpa and had repeatedly made efforts to embrace and reassure her, right up to the 'stock cube' row and even afterwards. These efforts were often, to no avail, which naturally led the girls to feel frustrated, especially when they had been most tolerant of Shilpa's sense of superiority, controlling behaviour and derogatory comments about their accents. Shilpa's defiant refusal to reciprocate in a tolerant and embracing way created tensions and further frustrations, which led directly, to all of the girl's supposed racist comments before, during and after the row.

During an interview on BBC Breakfast, Dirk Benedict who was on the CBB show, said of Shilpa, "she pushed me out of the kitchen" and of having to "work around her in the kitchen." He also said that what happened in the house was a 'controlling thing' and 'class issues.' The row started by Shilpa was not only caused by her ongoing and repeated discrimination against Jade and the girls. It was also because of Shilpa's intimidation in, taking control of many of the house tasks, compiling the food on the shopping list, cooking and eating whatever and whenever she liked, with little or no regard for the girls. To avoid conflict, and as means of comfort and support, the girls often vented their frustrations amongst themselves and when and where they made their so-called racist comments.

Shilpa also frequently turned, the housemate's concerns into both personal criticisms and bad behaviour, on their part. Just the day before the 'stock cube' row the girls were concerned, justifiably, about eating undercooked chicken. They suggested to Shilpa, that it took two hours to cook a whole chicken as Shilpa insisted 45 mins. She cooked it for an hour then complained that Danielle's potatoes were not done in time. Since the chicken wasn't fully cooked the girls returned it to the oven but in less than ten minutes was removed by Shilpa. With the benefit of doubt they thanked Shilpa for the dinner but the chicken was still bloody. Soon afterwards Shilpa said to another housemate, "Why do they hate me? "Why am I detested? I feel like I'm losing my dignity. I'm the only one they are mean to. I don't know why, nobody is mean to anyone else, except me." "They have pushed me to the brink."

Jade however tried to resolve in a friendly and reassuring way, Shilpa's control of the kitchen and also tried to reconcile her own concerns regarding Shilpa's intentions. She said that Shilpa might not be genuine because she voted for Carole's eviction when she was meant to be her friend. Jade's effort seemingly led Shilpa to tears saying, "No one has ever told me I'm not genuine." and "I don't feel like I fit in." Jade's efforts to understand and be reconciliatory was to no avail. The next day Shilpa airs again Jade's comment that she might not be genuine. Cleo tries to reassure Shilpa saying that Jade has difficulty "reading you." Shilpa replies "In my country that is rude" while Jermaine insists, "she can't read you because she's not on her level." He further added to Cleo, "…look at her face, look at her colour, look how she carries herself, you carry yourself the same way, but you're a different colour. They are not singling you out because you fit in, that's the bottom line…" Jade's comment about Shilpa voting for her own friend, was also aired by Shilpa, "Even Jo put her hand up, why wasn't she singled out?" Jermaine replied, "It's because you're not Jo's colour."

Jermaine, Ian and Shilpa apparently agreed that the girl's concerns, about cooking chicken, were because they wanted to 'prove Shilpa wrong.' Could this be a ploy to recruit other housemates for support and sympathy or could it be because they all shared the same sense of superiority, discrimination and deceitfulness toward the girls? Another time Shilpa confronted Danielle about some personal issue, which seems to have led to an argument. Later on Shilpa tells Jermaine, "Danielle is going to regret hurting me tonight" to which Jermaine replies, "You can't mix class with no class, and that's the problem."

The next day Shilpa told Jermaine that she had taken Daniel into the toilet to comfort her. He believed this and failed to even ask Shilpa or Daniel what had actually happened. Instead he tells Shilpa to "stop making an effort with Danielle as it is getting you nowhere. Leave her alone, you've tried, I'm older than you, this is wisdom." Jermaine here (and throughout the show) portrays himself as a quiet, wise man. In fact, he seemed to be supporting and behaving in similar deceitful, discriminatory and superior ways as Shilpa.

Some of the public seemingly failed to see, or may have been blindly influenced by, Jermaine's pervasive and repetitive comments implying racism and Shilpa's emphasis of cultural differences and her difficulty being in the same house with people from a different culture. Jermaine conversing again with Shilpa, described Jackiey, Jade and her friends as, "white trash" and then associating them with people who go on the Jerry Springer show. During conversations, Jermaine and Shilpa often asked each other whether the person they were talking about was either black or white. In the diary room referring to Shilpa Jermaine said, "she's the only woman of colour in the house, and I'm the only man of colour," and "if it was the reverse, the other housemates would also feel this imbalance." These deceitful and racist comments reflect the truth about the girls, which is they were not in any way, racist bullies.

Instead Jackiey was allegedly a racist bully because of her difficulty in pronouncing Shilpa's name, failing to notice Shilpa also had difficulty in pronouncing Dirk's name, which was mockingly replaced with 'duck.' Similarly Danielle was allegedly a racist bully for indirectly, calling Shilpa 'a dog' but failed to notice she also indirectly called Dirk a 'dirty dog' due to his intolerance. Danielle's comment about Shilpa 'trying to be white', may be because of Shilpa's own admission why she frequently used skin whitening cream. However it could primarily be because of Danielle's frustrations with Shilpa's intolerance and controlling behaviour towards her.

I find it very disturbing that Jermaine Jackson is now visiting our schools to talk about racism and bullying. During his visit to one school, a BBC reporter questioned him about the 'white trash' comment he made in the CBB house. He replied, "I did not call Jade Goody white trash. The white trash statement came from Dirk." He also said "As I was sitting out in the garden with Dirk, he said it and I went back to Shilpa to let her know what was being said about them." It is widely accepted that Jermaine did, in fact, make this comment.

From the above discussion, Jermaine could not have been innocent regarding the alleged racist bullying in the CBB house. His continued denial of racism, however, may be a way of protecting himself from the potential fallout from his comments. It is, therefore, hypocritical and deceitful that Jermaine should now be fronting the 'No Bull' campaign against bullying and racism in our schools.

Shilpa and Jermaine both publicly denied racism but instead deceitfully accused the girls of bullying. This is a continuation from the CBB house, of their discriminative bullying behaviour towards the girls. During an interview on Sky News Shilpa made several personally discriminative comments about Jade, "Jade is not very intelligent" that she is "obnoxious, bad mannered and aggressive", "has a lot of insecurities" and, "doesn't think before she speaks." She repeated many of these comments at a press conference where she also said, "I am proud of my colour."

A social commentator Jaye Williamson told Britain's Daily Star newspaper: "Maybe Shetty is the racist - mocking Africans on her TV show. The outrage should be that people dare to cry racism on Shilpa's behalf when she had the audacity to take part in a show that mocked Africans."

In addition, while Shilpa was in the diary room speaking about her upcoming possible eviction Shilpa appealed directly to "the Indians, the Bangladeshis and the Pakistanis" insisting that she "represent only them." As this appeal was directed at the British public, it discriminated against other ethnic and social groups. During an interview on Sky News she insisted it was "the Asians in Britain who were angry" at the alleged racism against her. This implies British people of non-Asian descent may not have been angry and by default, may be racists. Shilpa's discrimination against British non-Asians and her accusation that Britain is a racist country is inconsistent with her later public statement thanking all of Great Britain, "for giving me the opportunity to make my country proud."

I am sure, like myself, many British viewers found it very patronising, when Shilpa perceived Jade was racist and then applied this racist perception with "shame" and 'scariness' to all of Britain. Shilpa perceives herself as morally superior and as representing India, which implies by default that India is racially and therefore socially, morally superior. Cleo comments, "It's because you come from such a different background, I will have to say Jade is not a racist and neither are the other girls. There is no one here that's racist, there's really not, somewhere there is a breakdown of communication" Shilpa replies, "It is, I'm telling you. I'm representing my country. Is this what today's U.K. is? It's scary. It's quite a shame, actually."

Shilpa's insistence here that she is being racially discriminated against is inconsistent with her later denial this. Her derogatory racist view of Britain was supported in India by many commentators and politicians who could not have watched the show. An Indian MP is quoted as having said, "Oh I thought Britain was a tolerant country. Now I know what is really under the surface."

The racist allegations also seemed to have created other additional mutual support between other powerful and influential members of society, which not only added to the furore but also inevitably contributed to, the devastating effects/consequences for the real victims. Rightly or wrongly, they seemed to be artificially supporting and maintaining their personal influence and gain, which seemed to be more important than looking at the facts surrounding the allegations or most importantly respect the meaning of the word.

Since the British Chancellor was in India and could not have or possibly seen any of the show, I found it irresponsible that he should ask the British public to vote for Shilpa. It was equally irresponsible, that the MP for Leicestershire should raise a parliamentary motion regarding what were only 'allegations.' Similarly the invitation to Shilpa and her subsequent visit to the House of Commons caused even more furore. Many high-ranking politicians also became involved and had therefore, joined the bandwagon of ignorance, deceit and irresponsibility with little or no consideration for any of the facts. I have read that the politician Keith Vaz MP is also trying to obtain a work permit for Shilpa Shetty. Might all of this be some form of complicity with any of the perpetrators?

Channel 4 took no responsibility for the fact that they failed to intervene in the 'alleged' and the real racist bullying, and as such, broke their 'own rules' of not tolerating such behaviour. They also failed to edit out the scenes of this alleged behaviour, which in turn allegedly caused public offense. Channel 4 and the News Channels failed to inform the public that the footage they released were taken out of context. They also misled the public with edited clips, which deceitfully showed bad behaviour on the part of Jade, Jo, and Danielle.

Shown to the public alongside the main clip of the argument, were two misleading clips. One was a scene of Shilpa crying, looking dejected and being comforted by Jermaine, when at this time Jade was not even in the house. Another clip showed Shilpa turning to Jo saying, "Jo are you going to say something here?" Instead of showing Jo's response they immediately followed with a clip of Jo laughing. What they failed to show was Jo's response, which was, "Shilpa, in all fairness you did say the only thing I ordered from the whole shopping list was oxo cubes."

The real victims have been backed into a helpless corner from which they cannot escape, and also, each stuck with a deceitful 'racist' label, which in reality belongs to those who really were responsible. To add insult to injury, the perpetrators are allowed to get away with, and benefit financially from their abominable treatment of these young people. The allegations and the entire aftermath had little or nothing to do with Jade, Jo, Danielle or Jackiey. Instead it may be, but a reflection of the widespread underlying narcissistic envious discriminative bullying in society itself. Jade's disadvantaged background and the success she achieved should have been applauded, not envied and ridiculed.

The reasons may reflect certain people's need to create for themselves, a new celebrity and so promote the celebrity culture for financial and/or other personal gains. That the real victims may be cautioned and even possibly convicted of a crime should be considered totally unjust and too hard to fathom for any human being. Even if they are not convicted, a public apology or some form of redress should still come from someone who directly and so arrogantly mistreated, ridiculed and abandoned the girls with a nasty label, which more likely than not may cause more ridicule and abuse by certain ignorant and unsocial members of the public.

Since no one has publicly apologised for what happened to the girls, Channel 4 may have deliberately showed the girl's so-called racist comments to create controversy and possibly raise the profile of their BB shows both in the UK and in India. Endemol has insisted that their programme had raised awareness and debate regarding racism. In an interview on Sky News, Shilpa also supported this view, ending with the statement, "That's my job done." The only thing, which was raised during and after the show, was ignorance, a trivialising and promotion of deceit and racist bullying. Channel 4 could not have taken any responsibility for their failures and direct involvement in contributing to these allegations.

Instead, they chose to humiliate three vulnerable young girls and made them accept and, be responsible for the entirety of their failures; to intervene, to uphold their own rules, to edit their show properly, to take responsibility for what may be a deliberate introduction of certain personalities with social, cultural, and behavioural differences, which created racist bullying, and, the despicable behaviour of some of these housemates, who seemed to support Channel 4.

Most revealing was the insistence of Channel 4 to keep the show on the air and, most despicably, that the girls both publicly apologise and admit to these serious allegations, not withstanding having to accept and be responsible for the public's failure to consider any of the multiple factors involved. Consequentially this irresponsibility led the girls to face further discriminative bullying and abuse from every corner of the media across the globe. No human being would like to, nor should anyone, be treated in all or any of these ways.

This treatment was and remains, wholly unfair to the girls, and remains both morally and socially irresponsible. Channel 4, Endemol, Jermaine and Shilpa have each refused to admit publicly, any culpability or any responsibility for their roles in what actually did happen in the house. That Jade was used as a scapegoat, put onto a stage, humiliated, forced to squirm, grovel, cry, apologise and verbally abuse herself in front of the whole world, is surely unforgivable. I found it very hard to watch. Jo and Danielle were treated in a similar despicable way. Neither have they publicly expressed any concerns for any of the devastating emotional and social effects/consequences their irresponsible behaviour had on the girls both inside the CBB house and afterwards.

The reality of this global political, social and media irresponsibility was a complete lack of recognition, by any of those involved, for the overwhelming pressure they forced upon these vulnerable young girls. Soon after the 'stock cube' row and still in the house, Shilpa said of Jade, "I don't get intimidated by her, she gets intimidated by me." Could this be an admission? The day after the 'row' Shilpa said, "I don't want to be a scapegoat so Jade can get in the headlines," and a few days earlier, that the CBB house was a "platform for Jade."

Since these were false assumptions about Jade, they could only be a reflection of Shilpa's own envious intentions and motives, proven by the vicious ridicule Jade received and, on the other hand, of her own success after leaving the house. Might Shilpa and Channel 4 have been complicit in Jade's and the girl's outcome? During an interview on the NDTV News Channel Shilpa was asked about her reasons for going onto the CBB show. She replied, "I was paid to do a job."

In an earlier BB show I complained twice to Channel 4 regarding racist bullying and reported allegations of deceit in their selection process, but their replies failed to address my concerns. They seem to have a strict rule forbidding the housemates from discussing their selection process, immediately editing out any such discussion. However, I have seen Channel 4 chastising housemates for breaching this rule. Recently I rang them twice suggesting they stopped the show, but to no avail. The injustice to the girls, the ignorance of the recent public furore and the distress of my family's own experiences of racist bullying, also makes me want to try and do something.

Please, please do what you can, as citizens who may be concerned with objective assessment and/or discussions of the complex behavioural, psychological and social factors that contribute to racism and bullying, to reverse the lies and instead raise reasoning and empathy onto the highest pedestal. To do this would be to evoke tolerance and understanding and most importantly, provide a wider and presumably much needed public support for Jade and her children, Jo, Danielle and Jackiey.

References

Le Quebecois Libre, Opinion. "Celebrity Big Brother: Who are the Real Racists", by Jayant Bhandari. Available at http://www.quebecoislibre.org/07/070128-4.htm.

Lifestyle Extra, 12 February 2007. "'Celebrity Big Brother' winner Shilpa Shetty accused of racism". Available at http://www.lse.co.uk/TVNews.asp?Code=LJ127182D.

Daily Mail, 16 February, 2007. "The shocking story of the real Shilpa Shetty", by Paul Bracchi. Available at http://www.dailymail.co.uk/.

Institute for Policy Studies in Education, London Metropolitan Universtity, 02 February 2007. "Celebrity Big Brother 'White Trash' Row Hides Truth about Middle Class Racism". Available at http://www.londonmet.ac.uk/library/k41319_3.pdf.

BBC News Online, 22 January 2005. Bets off after Big Brother 'leak'. Available at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/tv_and_radio/4198427.stm.

BBC News Online, 14 April 2005. Channel aims for more Big Brother. Available at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/tv_and_radio/4444155.stm.

BBC News Online, 17 January 2007, Big Brother's history of bother. Available at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6270963.stm.

BBC News Online, 18 January 2007. Indian press debates Big Brother row. Available at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/6274043.stm.

BBC News Online, 20 January 2007, Big Brother controversy in quotes. Available at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6282883.stm.

Blogger.com, The Skinner - Neil Asher, 22 January 2007. Jade Goody. Available at http://theskinner.blogspot.com/2007/01/jade-goody.html.

Media Guardian, 17 January 2007. "Why does everyone hate me"? by Germaine Greer. Available at http://media.guardian.co.uk/site/story/0,,1992029,00.html.

NDTV.com, 19 August 2003. Sunanda Shetty granted bail. Available at http://www.ndtv.com.

NDTV.com, 16 February 2007. I wouldn't do anything un-Indian: Shilpa. Available at http://www.ndtv.com/.

News of the World "transcripts" of the Channel 4 daily uptake of what happened in the CBB house. Available at, http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/cbb/.

Telegraph.co.uk, 10 January 2007, Why Jade outshines all the Big Brother 'stars', by Sarah Crompton. Available at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2007/01/10/baarts10.xml.

The Independent, 19 January 2007. Jade is crude and abusive, but her freedom of speech extends to the right to be rude, by Dominic Lawson. Available at http://comment.independent.co.uk/.

The sun.co.uk, 8 February 2007. "Winner Shetty's Factory pay rap" by Lucy Hagan. Available at http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,11049-2007060422,00.html.