Controversial Big Brother 25 housemate Luke Valentine was booted off the show almost instantaneously after footage showed Valentine using the n-word while speaking to the other housemates. Despite a social media storm and near-universal criticism against Valentine, the reality star seems to be standing his ground against accusations of racism.
In an Instagram live video obtained by Deadline, Valentine went on the social media app to address allegations by viewers that he showed no remorse for his actions.
“I felt bad about what I said. The moment it happened, they booted me off the show and it was the most fun I ever had in my life. No lie” Valentine said. “It was devastating. It was very, very upsetting,” he continued.
Valentine maintained that he did not feel angry at the production staff of the show for kicking him out of the house, but argued they went too far with their punishment. “I’m not upset at the production. Their hands were tied,” Valentine said. “They had to make a sacrifice. I understand why it is upsetting. I think they made the wrong decision. I think a slap on the wrist would have been much better because they’re still getting backlash.”
A slap on the wrist…for racism?
Valentine said that his exit from the series was out of response to social media furor, and that the producers changed their mind about their initial punishment. “I care pretty deeply, honestly. Like I said, it was very upsetting. It was shocking news. I slept like a baby that night. I mean, I had beautiful dreams about being on the show. And then I woke up and they hit me with it.”
Luke’s statement is odd from start to finish. He felt bad about using the slur, but “slept like a baby that night?” Valentine is doing very little to stave off the allegations that he wasn’t really sorry about saying the word.
“And it’s funny because they called me into the diary room, which they hadn’t done for a while, and I said, ‘oh, it’s so weird. It’s like getting called to the principal’s office. I feel like I’m in trouble.’ and little did I know, I was in the most trouble possible”, Valentine recalled.
Big Brother producers have not publicly commented on Luke’s claim that they directly removed him from the series out of pressure from viewers. It is possible that he could be lying, in order to make his case about staying on the show after the controversy.
However, a statement released at the time of his exit declared that “Luke violated the Big Brother code of conduct and there is zero tolerance in the house for using a racial slur.” Should there be a code of conduct regarding racism in the Big Brother house, the course of action would have already been decided the moment that Luke used the term.
As if Luke’s statements weren’t incoherent enough, he then started to claim it was the producers’ fault that he made the racist statement. “It’s pretty clear that I meant no malice. It’s pretty clear that I had no ill intent. It was directed at Cory, and it was after about eight hours or it was about a week of malnutrition. A week of sleep deprivation,” he argued.
“I was getting probably two and a half hours of sleep on that cheese block. And you don’t really take into account the psychological distress of being under studio lighting 24/7 and not knowing who your friends are, who your enemies are.” Valentine concluded.
Uh…what?
Needless to say, fans did not buy this weird excuse. As of August 17th, a whopping 87% of viewers on TMZ’s poll said that Luke’s reasoning was not valid.
Others pointed out that Luke had been changing his story as the controversy refused to extinguish. At one point, Luke shifted from claiming he was sleep deprived for eight hours, to being sleep deprived for a week. It seems that the former housemate can’t keep his stories straight.
One critic highlighted that the n-word would never naturally come up in a white person’s vocabulary – unless they previously thought it was okay to say it.
Last time we checked, racism was not a by-product of being hungry and tired. Most people feel tired and hungry throughout the day without using slurs.
Published: Aug 17, 2023 07:01 pm