Big Brother fans were outraged and called for the removal of houseguest Luke Valentine after he was heard dropping the N-word on the show’s live feeds early Wednesday morning. In response, CBS has issued a statement saying that the 30-year-old illustrator has been evicted from the house.
“Luke violated the BIG BROTHER code of conduct and there is zero tolerance in the house for using a racial slur. He has been removed from the house. His departure will be addressed in Thursday night’s show,” the network said in a statement issued Wednesday.
The live feeds— which show the world what’s going on in the ‘Big Brother’ house 24 hours a day—- caught a conversation between Luke and several other contestants. Luke can be heard saying, “We were in the f**king cheese room, n****r.” He then appears to realize his mistake and giggles before correcting himself and saying, “dude.”
Luke’s fellow houseguests— Hisam Goueli and Cory Wurtenberger— just stared at Luke in disbelief, as Luke then turned to Black cast member Jared Fields and offers a very casual apology. Jared basically tells Luke his comment was out of line, as Cory and Hisam leave the room.
Luke— still laughing—tells Jared “it wasn’t like you thought” and that he was going to “call him a nar-well.” (We can assume he means narwhal?)
This is just disgusting there’s no way this man stays in the house after saying the N WORD? #BB25 pic.twitter.com/NR1C2H7Vcp
— ST★RBOY (@ih8mydad) August 9, 2023
Later, Luke tells Jared it was a “little slip of the tongue” and Jared doesn’t seem bothered by the comment, even joking with Luke about it.
“I should have made you feel uncomfortable real quick, like, ‘Whoa, bro, what did you just say?'” Jared tells Luke once they’re in their shared bedroom.
Jared says Cory and Hisam were much more upset about Luke using the slur than he is.
“In situations that should be uncomfortable for a Black man, white people get more uncomfortable,” Jared tells Luke, later adding, “They probably thought I was going to respond a certain way.”
“Well, I’m in trouble now,” Luke says. “Oh well, I’ve been in worse trouble.”
Back in 2020, ‘Big Brother 22’ contestant Memphis Garrett was heard on the live feeds uttering what sounded like a racial slur. CBS later wrote in a statement posted to Twitter that producers enhanced the audio from the scene and determined that Memphis did not say the slur.
In the same statement, the network wrote that, “Hate speech will not be tolerated, and those that violate the policy will be removed from the ‘Big Brother’ house.”
Before Luke was removed from the house, ‘Big Brother’ fans— and even former cast members— were calling for him to be booted from the show.
Big Brother needs to expel Luke, it’s just how it is. At this point, keeping him in the house would be a slap in the face to every person who has stood up for or tried to change the racist allegations that the show has experienced in the past. We’ve come too far for some random…
— Kat Dunn (@itskathryndunn) August 9, 2023
“Big Brother needs to expel Luke, it’s just how it is,” ‘Big Brother 21’ star Kat Dunn wrote on Twitter on Wednesday. “At this point, keeping him in the house would be a slap in the face to every person who has stood up for or tried to change the racist allegations that the show has experienced in the past. We’ve come too far for some random dude to come in and ruin it Week 1.”
“Luke should be expelled to set a precedent that using that kind of language is NOT TOLERATED on ‘Big Brother.’ Through all the diversity training and life itself, Luke STILL said that word and actions should NOT go without consequence,” one fan tweeted.
“‘Big Brother’ needs to expel Luke,” another fan wrote on Twitter. “If he’s saying this Week 1 imagine what’s gonna happen the rest of the season. Production needs to have a strict no hate speech policy. Don’t make the houseguests who are playing a game keep others in check. That’s production’s job.”
You can watch the scenes from the live feeds below:
(Photos: CBS; Twitter)
Anyone, I don’t care what race or color, should have the same consequences. If a black person is using the same word in the house regardless of the situation they need to go as well. If not then BB has serious discrimination issues.
Dude looks like a fkn chud.
Now he’s a chud who got kicked off TV
Are there any words that are forbidden from African Americans?
Obtuse much?
Like the other cast members, the black contestants cannot use that word or any other hate speech either.
how about any other racial slur? Yeah I think those are off limits too.
A very “ryanTMOG” response 🙄
How can any white person living in 2023 America not know that saying this word will end you? He has to be pretty damn stupid.
Did they bleep this clip? I didn’t really hear it.