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Two 'Big Brother' Houseguests Have Infuriated Fans With Racist Comments

by Zakiya Jamal

When it comes to the Big Brother house there's always drama, but there's a big difference between talking behind people's backs and making racially charged statements. This became very clear when Angela and Rachel were caught making racist comments on the Big Brother live feed.

In a statement, CBS said:

Big Brother is a reality show about watching a group of people who have no privacy 24/7 — and capturing every unfiltered moment and conversation in their lives. At times, the houseguests reveal prejudices and exhibit behavior that we do not condone. The producers have addressed two such incidents that were seen recently on the 24/7 online feed. In both cases, those involved have been warned about their inappropriate behavior and offensive comments, as well as future consequences. These events will not be part of any future Big Brother broadcast on CBS.

The two houseguests (both white) were sitting outside in the backyard when they began discussing how they were worried about getting too dark and looking "ghetto," according to TMZ. Rachel said that her stomach was getting as dark as fellow houseguest Bayleigh Dayton, who is black. Angela then responded saying, "I know. I'm looking ghetto here with the skin coloration." To make matters worse, Rachel then added that she couldn't be in the sun for more than two days, otherwise she would "change ethnicities."

Of course their comments angered a number of fans, who quickly jumped on Twitter and accused both women of being racist. Many fans are hoping both women will be evicted sooner rather than later, but that doesn't seem all that likely since they do have a pretty solid alliance with Tyler, Brett, Winston, and Kaycee. Additionally, though live feeders heard their comments, it doesn't seem like anyone else in the house did.

This isn't the first time a houseguest was accused of being racist. Last season houseguest Megan Lowder told her fellow houseguest Alex Ow, who's Asian, that another houseguest, Jessica Graf, had called Alex a "Panda." There's still debate around whether or not Jessica actually said it, but in a surprising twist it was Megan who actually ended up leaving the house because, on top of other things Megan was dealing with, Alex then accused Megan of lying.

Over the years, there has almost always been some kind of racially charged statement made by a houseguest and fans are over it. One fan tweeted, "Just because we complain about the bigotry on this season doesn't mean we want a boring friendly season like bb16 next season. You can cast entertaining people that aren't bigots. they exist [sic]."

Still, though many fans are upset about the comments, others are coming to Angela and Rachel's defense, particularly Rachel. One person tweeted, "I get what Angela and Rachel mean ab [sic] looking super tan and feeling weird bc when I tan I get darker, too. And that's all Rachel meant. I used to tan A LOT and it made me feel and look diff like she said. Bc I'm very light like Rachel. So I get what they were trying to say."

Someone else said that while they can cut Rachel slack, "Angela has repeatedly said things problematic and its only been 12 days. she's a low key bigot [sic]." Still, others are saying both Rachel and Angela's words got twisted and while their comments were definitely insensitive it doesn't mean they're racists. Whether or not you agree that what they said was wrong, their remarks have certainly sparked a conversation and it wouldn't be surprising if one of them ends up with the "crap app" next Sunday. Though some think Rachel and Angela are being judged too harshly, the majority of America are saying the pair are "canceled."

Thus, even if the ladies do make it far in the game they've totally lost America's favor and definitely won't be America's Favorite Houseguest this year. It'll be interesting to see how these two women respond to the backlash once they're out of the house. Will they apologize for their comments or stand their ground and argue, like their fans, that they weren't being racists. Depending on how long they stay in the house, it may be a while before we find out.

This post has been updated to reflect the statement from CBS.