‘Big Brother’ Houseguest Luke Valentine Faces Furious Fan Backlash After Dropping N-Word
09.08.2023 - 18:35
/ deadline.com
No stranger to controversy, Big Brother has another big one on its hands. Houseguest Luke Valentine, who is white, dropped the N-word during a conversation with Jared Fields, Cory Wurtenberger and Hisam Goueli Tuesday night. “We were in the f****** (inaudible) room, n****”, he said before quickly catching himself and saying “I’m sorry.”
Jared, who is Black, reacted to the comment, saying sometimes the n-word makes white people more uncomfortable than Blacks. “I don’t give a f–k,” he said. “Yeah, right, I should’ve made you feel uncomfortable real quick, like, ‘Whoa, bro, what you just say?’”
Furious fans have taken to social media calling for his ouster. “Go ahead and replace him”, wrote one, followed by a peace sign. Another wrote: “He gotta go”. Another called out the show’s producers: “Shame on the Big Brother production team if they let the Luke incident go by without a single word said to him. Accountability is a MUST here.”
Deadline has reached out to CBS for comment.
Hosted by Julie Chen, Big Brother follows a group of people living together in a house outfitted with 94 HD cameras and 113 microphones, recording their every move 24 hours a day. Each week, someone will be voted out of the house, with the last remaining Houseguest receiving the grand prize of $750,000.
The show has been criticized in the past for racism and discrimination. In Season 15, houseguest Aaryn Gries described Asians as “squinty-eyed.” Gries also chastised an Asian American contestant, saying, “Shut up and go make some rice,” and she also made a homophobic slur against another houseguest.
Season 24 of the season made history with Taylor Hale becoming the first Black woman to win the CBS reality competition. Her win followed a