Big Brother removes player from game for using racist slur

Dalton Ross
·3 min read
9

Big Brother has a history of twists and turns extending back to when it first went on the air in the summer of 2000. Unfortunately, the show also has a history of problematic behavior and speech that have been captured on the 24/7 live feeds.

Luke Valentine became the latest contestant to be caught on a hot mic and always-active camera, as the 30-year-old illustrator from Coral Springs, Fla., said the N-word in front of three other houseguests. And CBS has removed him from the game as a result.

"Luke violated the Big Brother code of conduct and there is zero tolerance in the house for using a racial slur," CBS and Big Brother producers said in a statement. "He has been removed from the house. His departure will be addressed in Thursday night's show."

Luke Valentine from 'Big Brother 25'
Luke Valentine from 'Big Brother 25'

Sonja Flemming/CBS Luke Valentine from 'Big Brother 25'

The incident occurred early Wednesday morning when Luke was in a room with Cory Wurtenberger, Hisam Goueli, and Jared Fields. "I'm in the f---ing cheese room, n----," Luke said, before seeming to pause and realize what he had said.  "Dude," he continued. "Anyways, we were in the f---ing cheese room."

Cory and Hisam stood there stone-faced while Jared replied off camera while laughing, "Yo, you're off the f----ing ledge."

Later, after Cory and Hisam had left, Luke told Jared, "He got more mad about that than you. A little slip of the tongue." Jared, who is Black, responded, "I don't give a f---," although it is impossible to know if Jared was merely trying to preserve a relationship in the game with his response.

"Well, I'm in trouble now," Luke eventually said, before noting, "I've been in worse trouble."

Problematic speech and behavior are not necessarily more prevalent on Big Brother than other reality shows, but other programs do not have 24-hour live feeds capturing every second of what is said and done on camera. And while the round-the-clock coverage is what makes Big Brother so unique and helps fuel fan engagement, it also has stoked controversy due to what has been captured.

Big Brother Canada did away with live feeds for its most recent season, although the most recent U.S. winner, Taylor Hale, passionately defended keeping the feeds here in the States, explaining to EW that "It's no secret I was recruited for a handful of reality shows and Big Brother was among that list. Big Brother was the most enticing to me because of the live feeds. They felt like the ultimate safety net for me."

Taylor also got emotional when saying that without the live feeds, "I can't imagine what the perception of me would've been had I left the house within the first three weeks. I think it's very easy to say, 'There's no way that an entire house bullied Taylor,' or 'There's no way that Taylor didn't do something that deserved the treatment that she had.' But the live feeds proved over and over that I wasn't doing anything to earn the hatred that I was getting. So I'm a big, big proponent of live feeds. I've said it once and I'll say it again: Sunlight is the best disinfectant. And to me, the live feeds are the sun."

And the sun has now set on Luke Valentine's game.

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