Police investigate new Big Brother race claim

LONDON, Feb 1 (Reuters) Police are investigating further claims of racism on ''Celebrity Big Brother'' after the Sun newspaper said a racist song was sung on the prgramme about Indian contestant Shilpa Shetty.

The words were written down by a senior employee at Big Brother makers Endemol on the back of a production running order for Channel 4 and anonymously handed to the police, the newspaper said.

The claims have surfaced after a sympathetic TV audience voted Bollywood actress Shetty the winner of the reality show last weekend, following earlier complaints that other contestants had used bullying and racist behaviour against her.

Hertfordshire Police said today: ''We can confirm that we have been handed further information and we will be looking into it as part of our ongoing investigation.'' Channel 4 has denied the latest allegations, saying no handwritten note has been produced by police.

''We have not been contacted by the police about this matter or seen a copy of the handwritten note that we understand has been passed to them,'' a spokeswoman said.

''The producers have checked the editorial log and assured us there is no evidence of the word alleged in the note ever being used by any of the housemates.'' Endemol confirmed senior producers had examined the editorial logs without finding evidence of the song.

Video was handed to police during the earlier complaints of racist bullying.

Ofcom received a record 45,000 complaints about those alleged racist bullying comments by contestants Jade Goody, ex-beauty queen Danielle Lloyd and singer Jo O'Meara. Its investigation is still ongoing.

In an interview today, Shetty said she did not believe the comments made by Goody and others on the show were racist.

Instead, she said it was an act of bullying, stemming from ''jealousy and maybe insecurity''.

''It was definitely not contrived racism,'' she told Sky News.

She said the best thing to have come out of the show was that ''people have suddenly woken up and want to take a stand'' against racism. ''My job is done,'' she added.

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