‘CarterMatt Chat’: How to solve ‘Big Brother 15’s’ racism problem
We’re back for the second edition of “CarterMatt Chat,” and on this one, editor-in-chief Matt Carter is taking things in a serious direction by discussing some of what has become a plague on “Big Brother” so far: Racist and misogynistic comments in the house. It was not originally the plan to talk solely on this subject today, but the continued occurrence of nasty comments even last night, and CBS’ reaction to the issue thus far, has merited a little bit more discussion.
Among the topics discussed below are who to blame for some of these comments from a production standpoint (and why it is unfair to point the finger at casting), and why the integrity of the game in some ways (i.e. public perception of the house) may need to come in second place to the preservation of the show. We go more in-depth in the video, but let’s pose the question this way: Would you rather have a house that is slightly more policed when it comes to hate speech, or one that could lose potential show sponsors and viewers? Since we’d rather see nothing happen to the show in future, it’s pretty clear where our stance lies, and you can enforce some sort of mandate without making it specific to any one houseguest.
We also present a few suggestions as to how to deal with offenders in the house, and why it is okay to block racist language considering that there are a million other things for the contestants to talk about. We’ve actually found in some ways that this show is more lenient than the Canadian version, and we have no problem with people swearing their faces off. It’s when the language starts to set America back decades and reinforce stereotypes that this goes from a fun, frothy summer show into reality TV poison.
We’ll be back next Friday with what will hopefully be some more light-hearted topics, including a possible season preview for “The Newsroom.” Want to see a specific show discussed in a “CarterMatt Chat”? Let us know in the comments! Also, click here if you want to see our specific tag page for all episodes.
Photo: CBS