According to a report from the BBC, TV, a British broadcast network, removed a pro-Palestine symbol from a contestant’s T-shirt from an episode of its reality show Big Brother.
The Netherlands is the home of the international reality television series Big Brother. The show follows a group of people who live together in a house where cameras are always watching them. In most cases, contestants are permitted to act and dress however they please. Bigg Boss in India and Tamasha Ghar in Pakistan are two of the show’s iterations.
In the show’s episode on Tuesday night, contestant Ali Bromley wore a black Wear the Peace T-shirt with a watermelon shaped like the Palestinian map. Palestinians and those who support them have come to consider the watermelon to be a symbol of their support for Palestine.
Wear the Peace, a brand owned by Palestinians, has a Palestine-specific collection through which they donate all profits to Gaza for food, water, aid, and evacuations for medical procedures performed outside of Gaza. Over $1 million has been given to Palestine so far by the brand.
When Violet Affleck, the 18-year-old daughter of Hollywood actors Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner, was spotted wearing a black sweatshirt with a watermelon graphic in the shape of the Palestinian map, Wear the Peace’s pro-Palestine clothing went viral in January.
ITV reported that the housemate told them she was “unaware of the implications” of the symbol and “did not wish to cause offence.” The BBC claims that the episode has since been edited. The watermelon print that Violet Affleck wore was also on her.
The episode was removed from ITVX, ITV’s streaming platform, after it aired, and it was reuploaded on Wednesday with Bromley’s T-shirt’s watermelon symbol removed.
Big Brother does not “allow any personal items into the house that could be deemed harmful,” according to a spokesperson.
The broadcaster stated, “We regret that the implications of this particular article of clothing were not fully understood in our bag checks or prior to broadcast of last night’s show.”
We assure viewers that Big Brother was unaware of the image’s implications and apologize to any viewers who were offended by the broadcast.
It said that the housemate “expressed that they are unaware of the implications and did not wish to cause any harm or offence” when the item of clothing was taken out of the house.
Campaign Against Antisemitism stated that it had filed a complaint with Ofcom, the British government-regulated office of communication, after the initial episode aired, claiming that the “incident represents a serious violation of broadcasting standards.”
