UK TV Network Slapped Down for ‘Racist’ TV Show

Ofcom, the British media watchdog, has implicatedUK broadcaster Channel 4 in the Celebrity BigBrother racismcontroversy involving Shilpa Shetty and herabuse at the hands of Jade Goody, DanielleLloyd, and Jo O’Meara. The network wasaccused of “serious editorial misjudgment,” reports The Sun, and will have to makethree on-air apologies to viewers. Also, followingtoday’s findings, Channel 4 “released atranscript of unseen footage from the show, whichdetails how Goody, O’Meara, Lloyd, and Goody’sboyfriend, Jack Tweed, made up a limerick about Shettyin which they joked about using a word which rhymedwith ‘tacky’.” Hint: it wasn’t “wacky.”

• The Guardian‘sJanine Gibson says Channel 4 played Britishviewers “for fools. Telling us on the one hand not to be so silly andhysterical, while at the same time telling the contestants (off therecord) to stop being racists or they’d be thrown out.”
• After all of this, you’d think Big Brotherproducers would call a moratorium on manipulative stunts. You’d be wrong.
• The Sun‘s Victoria Newtonthreatens to haul out her rusty old gay-o-meterbecause Bill Nighy says he’s a big DavidBeckham fan. Hmm, now where did I pack away my C-U-Next-Tuesday-o-meter?
• Lily Allen and Cheryl Tweedy Wii oneach other.(The Sun)
• Naomi Campbell can’t help but weigh in on Ms. Allen, defending Kate Moss against her jibes. “Lily who? People are always trying to compare themselves to Kate, but none measure up. There’s only one Kate Moss.” (Mirror)
• Lily Allen and Debbie Harry willperform Blondie‘s”Heart of Glass” tomorrow on The Today Show.(NME)
• The Ivor Novello songwriter award winners. (BBC)
• Amy Winehouse flew in from L.A. to pick up her Novello.(Daily Mail)
• David Bowie‘s childhood friend, GeoffMcCormack, hasdocumented his time on tour with Bowie with a coffee table book. It features photographs taken between 1973 and 1976.(BBC)
• Keira Knightley has won damages against TheDailyMail, who implied she was responsible for a girl’s death from anorexia.(BBC)
• Rachel Weisz talks to The Times about her two bigmovies – Wong Kar-Wai‘s My Blueberry Nights and Brickdirector Rian Johnson‘s The Brothers Bloom, in which sheplays a “geek among conmen.”
• Travis frontman Fran Healy salutes The Band‘s Music From BigPink as an album that changed the world. “Without Big Pink, Icertainly wouldn’t be in a band. It’s such a pure record that it encouragesyou to be true to yourself, to just run with what you do naturally inmusic, and don’t be afraid to do something that no-one else hasdone.”(MOJO)
• Did Brittany Murphy marry her British hubby to keephim from being deported?(Page Six)