ITV and Banijay have apologized after Big Brother UK featured a housemate carrying a pro-Palestine T-shirt depicting the map of Israel as a watermelon.
Tuesday’s episode of the truth present was faraway from streaming service ITVX and later restored with contestant Ali Bromley’s garment reduce out of sure pictures.
The Campaign Against Antisemitism mentioned the shirt had brought about “significant distress” among the many Jewish group and that it had lodged a criticism with Ofcom, the UK media regulator.
The watermelon has grow to be an emblem of the Palestinian flag, which when depicted as a map of Israel can point out assist for the erasure of the Jewish state.
The shirt seems to be a “Freedom Melon Tee” from Wear the Peace. Profits from the sale of the shirt are donated to Pious Projects, a U.S. charity that provides meals, water, and medical help to Gaza.
A spokesperson for Big Brother, which is produced by Banijay-owned Initial, mentioned the present regretted that the which means of the T-shirt was not acknowledged earlier than Bromley entered the home.
“The housemate has been spoken to and they have expressed that they are unaware of the implications and did not wish to cause any harm or offence. Any offensive messaging associated with the image does not reflect the values or beliefs of Big Brother,” the spokesperson mentioned.
They continued: “All housemate objects are checked by our manufacturing staff earlier than they go into the Big Brother home to make sure they adjust to the Rules and compliance necessities. Big Brother doesn’t enable any private objects into the House that might be deemed dangerous.
“We regret that the implications of this particular item of clothing were not fully understood in our bag checks or prior to broadcast of last night’s show. We apologise to any viewers who have been offended by the broadcast and assure viewers that Big Brother was unaware of the implications of the image.”
Before getting into the Big Brother home, Bromley mentioned she might be outspoken: “If someone does something I think maybe isn’t kind, or could have been a bit better thought through, I have this thing where I tend to tell people. I can be quite direct. It doesn’t always land well.”
