Big Brother audience members thrown out of show recording after refusing to remove pro—Palestine T-shirts
AUDIENCE members in pro—Palestine T-shirts were thrown out of a Big Brother show recording.
Producers had them kicked out after spotting the tops during Monday’s taping of spin-off programme Late and Live.
A show insider said the three refused to change into plain tops so they were escorted from the ITV studio in Harlesden, North West London.
“The recording of Late and Live was taking place when suddenly crew came out and told the audience members in question there was an issue with their t-shirts.
“With the show in the middle of recording they were asked to step out while it was dealt with away from the cameras.
“Big Brother has plain clothing like t-shirts on standby in case fans turn up with big well-known brands on their clothes which aren’t allowed on air and these were offered to the fans, but they refused and were then escorted out.”
The episode then wasn’t available on catch-up site ITVX until it had been re-edited, with the broadcaster citing “compliance reasons” for the delay.
The upset follows a censorship row over the watermelon t-shirt, with the symbol widely associated with anti-Israel sentiment.
Last month Big Brother housemate Ali Bromley sparked 552 complaints to Ofcom after she wore a T-shirt depicting a map of Israel as a watermelon — seen as a symbol of Palestine nationalism.
It sparked claims ITV was allowing “genocidal” views to be broadcast to millions of viewers.
The episode was removed before it was re-uploaded, censoring the top.
ITV said Ali was spoken to off-camera and asked to hand over the item of clothing to Big Brother.
ITV declined to comment on the latest row.