Channel 4 rapped over Big Brother racism row

A British broadcaster at the centre of a racism row involving Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty has been found guilty of "serious editorial misjudgements" over its handling of the issue and ordered to make a series of apologies.

A British broadcaster at the centre of a racism row involving Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty has been found guilty of “serious editorial misjudgements” over its handling of the issue and ordered to make a series of apologies.

TV watchdog OFCOM found that Channel 4’s Celebrity Big Brother 2007 show was guilty of “serious editorial misjudgments” over its handling of the Shetty racism row. The show was dogged by accusations of racism after Shetty faced a tirade of abuse from fellow contestants, including Jade Goody.

The media regulator found Channel 4 guilty of breaching the broadcasting code and ordered it to make a series of apologies during the new series of Big Brother next week.

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OFCOM also confirmed that unseen footage of racist behaviour inside the Big Brother house did exist.

The show was heavily criticised for the alleged racist bullying of the Indian actress by fellow contestants Jo O’Meara and Danielle Lloyd, besides Goody. In its long-awaited report, Ofcom singled out three occasions on which Channel 4 had failed to handle the situation appropriately making “serious editorial judgements”.

They were: Jade Goody referring to Shetty as “Shilpa Poppadom”, Lloyd saying that the actress should “go home” and argument over Shetty cooking chicken, which ended with Lloyd and O’Meara making derogatory comments about Indian eating habits.

NRI Labour MP Keith Vaz, who led protests in Parliament over the issue and introduced Shetty to Prime Minister Tony Blair, on a tour of Westminster, called for Channel Four Chief Executive Andy Duncan to resign. He said, “I welcome the adjudication by Ofcom. This is a vindication of our position.”

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Duncan said, “We accept Ofcom’s judgement that on the occasions in question we did not ensure that Big Brother intervened with the necessary promptness or strength.”