Latest News                                                                                     <<

Wendy Richard Causes Controversy On BBLB

During her appearance on 'Big Brother's Little Brother' last night, former 'Eastenders' actress Wendy Richard caused quite a stir by making a comment which some viewers have deemed to be racist.

Chatting to host George Lamb about her turnaround in opinion of Kat, the woman who played grumpy Pauline Fowler for so many years said, "I was a big fan of Kat's... but I've looked at her through different eyes, and I have to admit... she is fake".

"What is it they say? I know it's the inscrutable Chinese and she's Thai, but it's all Oriental isn't it... well it is to me anyway... so you can never really tell what she's thinking."

An embarrassed George immediately suggested that's not a trait unique to Asian people, but Wendy – who's fictional son in the long-running soap opera was originally intended to be a racist character – re-iterated that what she meant was: Asian people don't portray their emotions on their faces.

There's definitely an element of truth to that in-respect of Asian people hiding their emotions, especially when put in a tricky situation, the face giving nothing away or perhaps even breaking into a smile when the person is actually stressed.

However, it was the 'they're all the same to me' connotation that really riled fans, even if Wendy didn't mean it that way. Needless to say, George moved swiftly on and her comments were edited-out of the repeat show (well, the picture went inexplicably fuzzy during the offending remarks).

What? Another race row? Nah... move on, there's nothing to see here. Ahem!

Check back soon for more Big Brother UK Latest News                          < back    top