Shilpa Shetty hits headlines Down Under too

Melbourne, Jan 20: While Indian film actress Shilpa Shetty has been vindicated with the eviction of her tormentor from the British reality television show, the saga surrounding her 'mistreatment' has also made it to the front-page headlines Down Under.

The racism tinge to the controversy has found expression in screaming headlines and 'Shilpa Shetty' is in the top five list of 'most viewed article' classification by The Age and Sydney Morning Herald newspapers.

The news of the alleged racist treatment of Indian 'A-list star' has also been clogging Google News website with over 2,000 news items listed under 'Brits Oust Brother' Racism-Row Figure' headline.

News articles and editorials are also drawing attention to the Australian version of Big Brother and the racist attitude of some of the housemates appearing it in the past.

An article in The Age has quoted an episode from 2003 when a hairdresser called Kim made an offensive joke that inferred the members of the Australian indigenous population, usually called Aborigines, were criminals.

The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission threatened legal action. Producers Network Ten and Southern Star Endemol had reportedly apologised on the first instance but insisted Kim was acting within the rules of the game and allowed her to stay on.

Like so many other industrialised countries, the reality TV show, Big Brother, has also come under criticism in Australia.

One editorial commentator has gone to the extent of dismissing the show as mere 'visual white noise' testing the 'public's extraordinary tolerance...in hour upon hour of interaction in the house between a selection of vacuous housemates'.

The uproar is not restricted to Australia as New Zealand media has also been highlighting the Indian star's trauma and the subsequent brouhaha which culminated in kicking out of the 'tormentor' Jade Goody yesterday.

UNI

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