Alleged racial abuse on TV show stirs controversy

Anger over the alleged racist taunting of Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty on Celebrity Big Brother simmered in India for a second day today, as an Indian official sought to play down the controversy.

Ms Shetty, 31, has been repeatedly reduced to tears during Celebrity Big Brother by a fellow contestants who have called the actress’ cooking untrustworthy, mocked her accent and complained about her “screeching”.

Reports of Shetty’s mistreatment were splashed across front pages in India for a second day today, while TV news channels were running clips of Shetty crying, giving Indians who can’t see the programme a snapshot of the actress’ travails.

The Hindustan Times newspaper wrote in an editorial: “Attacks on her show that racism is never really far from the surface.”

The story has drawn in everyone from British Prime Minister Tony Blair to a group of Shetty fans who protested in eastern India on yesterday.

Today, India’s finance minister, P. Chidambaram, tried to play down the controversy.

“What has happened is in a particular television show with a particular format that allows bad behaviour to be televised,” he told reporters after a meeting with British Chancellor Gordon Brown in New Delhi.