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The Times of India Online
Printed from timesofindia.indiatimes.com World Rest of World
Shilpa Shetty racism row escalates
Rashmee Roshan Lall
[ 17 Jan, 2007 1952hrs ISTTIMES NEWS NETWORK ]
LONDON: The controversy over alleged racism towards Shilpa Shetty by
fellow-contestants of a British reality TV show escalated on Wednesday
with Prime Minister Tony Blair and the Indian government weighing in,
albeit with cautious platitudes and a further 10,000 complaints
flooding into the television regulatory authority and Channel 4.
The total number of complaints now stands at 15,000, making Shetty's
ordeal the most complained-about television show in history.
Angry members of the 1.3-million strong British Indian community told
this paper they were mobilizing furiously to keep up the pressure on
the authorities to take action over the degrading and demeaning
behaviour towards Shetty just because she's Indian, young, beautiful,
successful and well-educated.
While a passionate internet campaign to save Shilpa gathered pace,
cynical TV pundits said the Bollywood star's unexpected first-name
recognition in Britain may actually pay her huge celebrity dividends
once her ordeal ends.
Though C4 largely remained mum about the issue, it backed away from
its previous belittling description of Shetty's bullying at the hands
of three other women contestants as girlie rivalry.
The channel continues to insist Shetty was not called a Paki by one
of the male contestants.
Police in the English county of Hertfordshire, locale of the Big
Brother house, confirmed they are to investigate e mails sent to
Channel 4 containing threats against Celebrity Big Brother housemates.
Police also confirmed receipt of a complaint about racist behaviour in
the house.
Pressure was mounting on C4 to do something about the programme,
which has two weeks still to run, with the show's sponsor Carphone
Warehouse reconsidering its three-million-pound largesse on issues of
taste and decency.
In an unprecedented development for a show that is consistently seen
to be as successful as it is shallow and sexually-degraded, bookmakers
said on Wednesday that they had cut the odds of Celebrity Big Brother
not lasting its scheduled run from 20/1 to 5/2.
British television channels added an interview with Sunanda, Shetty's
mother, in their wall-to-wall coverage of the story. Sunanda, who said
Shetty had agreed not to do any lip-to-lip kissing with male or
females on the show...to cook or eat beef, added that her daughter
was secure inside.
Meanwhile, in a sign of spiralling interest across two continents in
the shenanigans of Shetty's Big Brother housemates, Goan-origin Labour
MP asked Blair in parliament to condemn the outright racism and
xenophobia on the show. Vaz also pointedly asked Blair to remind
broadcasters such as C4 of their duty not to publish any such
prejudices to millions.
Blair responded by admitting he had not seen the programme in question
but unreservedly condemned racism in any form.
British establishment interest in Shetty's woes came as hundreds of
South Asians here started to speak out in sympathy for the actress,
with the additional biting rider that her racial harassment was a
harrowing reminder of the situation they faced in the UK.
Speaking for many British Indians, actress, comedian and writer Meera
Syal lambasted C4's bland response to days of racially-charged
bullying of Shetty. Syal said the show had slipped into vile
spectacle and there is a very thin line between what is
entertainment and a vile spectacle and I think we are in that area
now. She said, What this treatment of Shilpa has done is remind a
lot of Asian people in Britain of the type of uncomfortable treatment
they've received themselves over the years. This is bullying.
She added, I certainly wouldn't have taken as much as Shilpa has
taken. I'm just wondering if on their (C4's) last series (of Big
Brother), for example, the Tourette's sufferer had been called a
'spaz' (or a spastic) on a regular basis, whether they would have let
that continue.
Vaz, whose Leicester East constituency has a heavy concentration of
East African Indians, admitted he had been moved to employ political
dark arts such as parliamentary early day motions because his appalled
constituents had set up a clamour. Vaz's motion read: This House
views with concern the comments made about Big Brother contestant
Shilpa Shetty by other housemates; believes that Big Brother has a
role to play in preventing racist behaviour
