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| Big Brother contestant Helen Wood was accused of bullying by housemate Brian Belo after she made comments about his appearance. |
Big Brother will not be investigated by media regulator Ofcom, despite more than 2,000 complaints about bullying on the Channel 5 reality show.
Ofcom received 2,024 complaints that it was offensive for housemates Helen Wood and Marc O’Neill to describe their fellow contestant Brian Belo as “looking like a murderer and rapist” and like a “psycho”.
Belo left the show by scaling a wall last month after breaking down in tears in the diary room, describing Wood and O’Neill as “bullies”.
Wood was given a warning by Big Brother over the comments.
A spokesperson for Ofcom said the complaints had been assessed but would not be taken forward to a formal investigation.
“Ofcom assessed a number of complaints about bullying in Big Brother and has decided they do not raise issues under our rules warranting further investigation,” said the spokesperson.
“We were satisfied that Channel 5 had broadcast clear and appropriate warnings about the potentially offensive content, and that it intervened in heated exchanges and situations at appropriate times.
“We also took into account audience expectations for this reality format and the fact that the series was broadcast after the watershed.”
It was the second series in a row in which Wood had been accused by viewers of bullying behaviour.
Last year’s series of the show prompted 3,784 complaints and another 1,874 about its sister celebrity edition, making it the most complained about show of the year.
Many of the complaints related to the behaviour of Wood, who went on to win the show and was said by some to have bullied her fellow contestants.
Ofcom also said on Monday it would take no further action following complaints about swearing on Dermot O’Leary’s Comic Relief 24-hour dance marathon and Kanye West’s appearance at Glastonbury.
O’Leary welcomed a friend outside the BBC’s Broadcasting House, during a live Comic Relief broadcast on 13 July, with the words: “How fucking fantastic to see you.”
Realising his mistake, the Radio 2 presenter said: “I’m so sorry if I swore – I swear, I didn’t swear?”
The BBC said O’Leary was “very tired having been dancing for over 18 hours and throughout the night”.
Ofcom said it was a “clear example of the most offensive language being broadcast before the watershed” but said it considered the matter resolved because of O’Leary’s apology and a subsequent on-screen caption apologising for the incident.
Separately, the regulator said it would not take any action after 48 complaints about swearing, including use of the N-word, during Kanye West’s headline appearance at Glastonbury on BBC2 on 27 June.
An Ofcom spokesperson said: “We received a number of complaints that Kanye West’s performance included racially offensive language. Having assessed these, we have decided not to take the matter forward for investigation.
“In our view, the potential for offence was justified by the context, warnings were broadcast, and the programme was aired after the watershed.
“The performance and language used were also in keeping with Kanye West’s style and genre of music and were therefore likely to be within the expectations of the audience for this programme.”
Credits: theguardian.com
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