Why can't Big Brother stars stay away from racism?

[TMC]

https://www.thedailybeast.com/obsess...p-being-racist

“Big Brother 25” cast member Luke Valentine was booted after using the n-word. The show has a long and ugly history of shockingly racist contestants. Why does this keep happening?

Justin Kirkland
Updated Aug. 09, 2023 4:49PM EDT / Published Aug. 09, 2023 4:45PM EDT

We are only seven days into the new season of Big Brother, and yet, we cannot escape the age-old tradition of some white hardbody slipping something racist into conversation. Big Brother 25 cast member Luke Valentine was caught on the Big Brother live feeds last night in conversation with three other houseguests when he said, “I’m in the f---ing cheese room, n---a.”

The caucasity jumped out.

He followed that up by saying, “oops—dude,” which shares neither a consonant nor a single vowel sound with the previously mentioned n-word, but sure, let’s pretend that’s what he meant to say. Two other houseguests in the camera frame looked on in horror as the 30-year-old illustrator from Florida tried to laugh off the moment. Later, while in conversation with Black contestant Jared Fields, Valentine added, “Well, I'm in trouble now… I've been in worse trouble."

The key detail about Big Brother, of course, is that the fans are literally always watching their interactions via 24/7 live feeds. Valentine’s use of the slur, made late in the night on Tuesday, caused a social media firestorm among those who watch the live feeds. By Wednesday afternoon, Big Brother released a statement that Valentine had been removed from the house.

And I guess the question at hand today is: How, in the name of Julie Chen-Moonves, do these people continue to run into a bar that is set so incredibly low?

Valentine’s expulsion is a rare, but welcomed, move from CBS and Big Brother. Ten years ago, the series aired what was arguably its most controversial season, featuring a handful of housemates who berated Black, Asian, and LGBTQ+ contestants. In the decade since that infamous season, there have been a number of, let’s call them “learning moments.” In Season 20, houseguest JC Mounduix and Bayleigh Dayton had a heated discussion after using the n-word and a derogatory term for little people, respectively. In that same season, houseguest Kaitlyn Herman also used the n-word while singing lyrics of a song. Those instances led to Big Brother establishing a zero-tolerance policy around hate speech.

Then, late in the fall of 2020, CBS announced a diversity pledge, promising that at least 50 percent of its reality show casts would be contestants who were Black, Indigenous, and people of color.

I explain all of this because, while efforts to increase representation and up the ante on repercussions for hate speech are commendable, it seems that not even the promise of a potential $750,000 is enough to quell a certain type of person from dropping hate speech.

Even with those implementations, houseguests as recent as last season have been embroiled in controversy regarding racism. The bullying of Taylor Hale, the series’ first Black female winner, was a key storyline during the 2022 season of the series. Houseguest Kyle Capener also came under fire for suggesting a white alliance to counter the people of color in the house. And yet, still no racist-related expulsions!

Valentine, who, again, has only been in the house seven days essentially only had one rule to follow: Stay away from the hate speech. The expectations are abysmally low, and yet, here we are talking about it again. And while there’s never an excuse to drop that word, there’s something extra confounding about Valentine’s use of it because it wasn’t weeks deep into the game when someone might have become accustomed to the cameras. It wasn’t in the heat of the moment during some kind of argument (though, it bears repeating, neither of those situations would justify use of hate speech).

No, Valentine’s use of the word came less than a full week into the game, in front of a Black houseguest, no less. As fans pointed out, it was said so casually in conversation that it came across as naturally as saying, well, dude.

And maybe that’s why the ask to stay away from hate speech is so tall for some of these reality show contestants. Because when you’re just casually dropping n-bombs in conversation, that says something about your lexicon to begin with. As wild as it is, in 2023, it seems that the gravity of that word has still yet to seep into everyone’s brains at the same rate.

While Big Brother has evolved over the years, I suppose the one constant from Season 1 to Season 25 is that when the cameras and microphones are always on, there’s only so long before the true you is revealed. And if the gravity of the word itself won’t bring you down to Earth, best believe that the backlash from using it will.

[dee2364]

The Daily Beast, oh please. These contestants are deliberately cast for the drama and ratings. I remember how, in one of the earliest seasons, it cast an openly gay man with an Archie Bunker type who was vocally anti-gay. It's on purpose because these events attract ratings and give exposure. I didn't even know that BB was still on the air until this latest stunt. The Daily Beast is not much of a news site to be this naive about how reality TV works.

[HuntingtonM15]

Originally Posted by dee2364

The Daily Beast, oh please. These contestants are deliberately cast for the drama and ratings. I remember how, in one of the earliest seasons, it cast an openly gay man with an Archie Bunker type who was vocally anti-gay. It's on purpose because these events attract ratings and give exposure. I didn't even know that BB was still on the air until this latest stunt. The Daily Beast is not much of a news site to be this naive about how reality TV works.

Yeah, they intentionally cast different personalities but they don't intentionally cast racists. There really was no way for them to know this would happen so they absolutely did the right thing in removing him from the house.

Things were much different 22 years ago during BB2 when Kent and Bunky were cast, meaning being openly gay could still be considered taboo to some. While Kent was definitely homophobic he did start to have more of an open mind as the show progressed, and the two of them even remained friends until Kent's death in 2017.

[stevea]

Put people of any race together, and you're eventually gonna hear racist comments. Hardly worth all the space they gave it.

Reality TV is mostly garbage, anyway (I say as a person who watches some of it)--deal with it, Daily Beast.

[dee2364]

Originally Posted by HuntingtonM15

Yeah, they intentionally cast different personalities but they don't intentionally cast racists. There really was no way for them to know this would happen so they absolutely did the right thing in removing him from the house.

I've been around a long time. These shows do intentionally cast racists and bigots for drama, but they weren't afraid of contestants using slurs, because at the time, contestants were very media conscious and too hungry for fame to blow their chances. They knew using slurs or being hateful would ruin their shot at fame or kill their chances at winning the competition, so knew how to hold their tongues and use diplomatic language. For example Kent never used the F word for gay people; what he would say is stuff like, "I don't agree with that lifestyle."

What's happened now is that we have new generations of contestants who don't have a filter after growing up on social media. So, now this strategy of casting bigots and racists for drama is backfiring. These kids say and do stupid stuff all the time online now and will even play the victim of "woke" when there's backlash; reality TV showrunners don't get that today's jerks don't have the diplomacy or media awareness to not use slurs or hateful language.

Originally Posted by HuntingtonM15

Things were much different 22 years ago during BB2 when Kent and Bunky were cast, meaning being openly gay could still be considered taboo to some.

It wasn't that much different. This was literally during the era when gay TV stars and performers were coming out of the closet left and right (Ellen DeGeneres, Rosie O'Donnell, Elton John). There was also gay advocacy by people like Madonna, and movies, and TV shows supporting gay causes (The Birdcage, To Wong Foo, The Crying Game).