Channel 4 under crticicism over racist abuse on Shilpa

London, Jan 17 (UNI) British broadcaster Channel 4 has come under fierce attack from the Asian community here, over the alleged racist abuse of the Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty on its Celebrity Big Brother programme.

The broadcaster and the watchdog Ofcom have received thousands of complaints about the treatment on Shetty, who has encountered a tirade of insults from the former house- mate Jackiey Budden, her daughter Jade Goody and, to a lesser extent, from the model Danielle Lloyd.

Acting on the complaints of the members of Leicester East, MP Keith Vaz of the Labour party tabled an early day motion in the Commons calling on the programme, ''To take action to remind housemates that racist behaviour is unacceptable.'' ''Channel 4 has a duty to tell the housemates there are limits.

It is totally unacceptable. We can be fun without being rude and insensitive to people about their ethnic origin,'' he said.

In reply to the charges, Channel 4 said that it would "take appropriate measures to reprimand such behaviour where necessary", but fell short of indicating the fact that it would communicate the unacceptability of racism to housemates.

The channel, further, defended its decision of not intervening in group dynamics, insisting that it had to portray events accurately.

However, Carphone Warehouse, the estimated 3 million pound per year sponsors of the celebrity show "Big Brother" , is reported to be reviewing its further association with the programme.

Actress Meera Syal also attacked Channel 4's "bland" response to the controversy, which has led nearly 10,000 people to complain.

Speaking on the BBC Asian Network, she said ''I certainly wouldn't have taken as much as Shilpa has taken. I'm just wondering if on their last series, for example, the Tourette's sufferer had been called a 'spaz' on a regular basis, whether they would have let that continue?'' Ofcom had already received 7,600 complaints by yesterday evening and Channel 4 had also received another 2,000 e-mails and calls on the treatment of the Bollywood actress.

The entire incident occurred in last Monday's episode of the show, where the former S-Club 7 singer Jo O'Meara criticised Sheety by saying that Indians were thin because they were always ill as a result of undercooking their food.

She and Lloyd also complained that Shetty had touched other housemates' food with her hands.

The abuse was reportedly first started by Budden, who repeatedly referred to the Bollywood actress as "the Indian", which later prompted the departure of the film director Ken Russell from the sets of the show.

Shetty, who also is an AIDS campaigner apart from being a Bollywood diva, was the first Indian contestant to appear on Celebrity Big Brother show.

UNI