Big Brother has always had a racism problem, but it's particularly ugly this season

The Week

"Once again, what we've seen is that members of the Big Brother cast can't stop themselves — even knowing they are under continuous observation — from letting out their prejudices," says Neil J. Young. "Racism and other bigotries have long plagued the Big Brother franchise — and reality TV more broadly — but this season's ugliness feels particularly pointed and problematic given our political moment. Meanwhile, CBS's mishandling of its show demonstrates the complicity of network television in fomenting the very conditions that encourage racism while doing everything it can to cover it up, and reflects the broader casualness with which white Americans dismiss or ignore the very real racism all around them — not just on television." He adds: "The cast's rapid whitening of the house has happened alongside a steady stream of racist comments from some of its members, something that has been well documented by those following the 24-hour live feeds. But you would hardly know that from watching the episodes of the show which run in primetime three nights a week. Instead, Big Brother's producers have stripped the broadcast of those racist comments and, even more importantly, cut the episodes so as to give the white offenders what Nicholas Caruso over at Pop Dust has called 'nice-guy edits.'"