After being in the Big Brother 8 house all summer for a reality television show, it's time for Amber Siyavus (also known as Amber Tomcalvage) to face the realities of her words and actions during that time.While I didn't get a chance to talk to Amber myself -- probably a good thing -- our friends over at Buddy TV asked her some of the tough questions show fans had in mind in an exclusive interview. I suggest you check out the entire interview, but I want to touch on one of the questions and her answers while adding my two cents in here.
The single most nagging issue, and perhaps most controversial one, concerns Amber's anti-Semitic remarks while in the house. Now, if you recall, she said (paraphrasing) that New York is full of "greedy and selfish Jews" and she can always pick a Jewish person out by his nose and name. Not only that, but she didn't like them. I saw that conversation play out live on the feeds. She indeed said it and she said it in the manner in which it comes across -- prejudiced and rude.
In the last page of the Buddy TV interview, Amber herself said she wanted to address the anti-Semitic comments. Did she apologize? Nope, not really. She said, and I quote: "... I was talking to Jameka and I made that comment, it came from a bad place."You bet it did! What Amber doesn't seem to understand is that the "bad place" is inside of her. And, following that reasoning, it doesn't matter her moods or whatever, the thought was something from within her, "bad place" or not. It aired over the live feeds and is caught on YouTube for eternity, or however long the current technology lasts. I realize that many folks have those "bad places" within them, but when you're exposed for the world to see -- well, it tends to make you look not only prejudiced, but a bit stupid to even say such a thing, as well.
Here are a few more of her comments on the anti-Semitic remarks and my take on them:
- "... the words I should've used, money-making and hard working, and goal-oriented instead of saying selfish and money-hungry, I didn't mean those in rude ways."
- "It's not me to sit around and criticize people, I'm not prejudiced, I love everybody."
- "Again, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, I can't tell you that enough."
Now you see why I wouldn't be a great interviewer, eh? But she side-stepped and sugar-coated the whole thing instead of just coming out and saying "I was wrong to say that. It was a prejudicial remark. I apologize to all I offended and will work on dealing with my personal biases which obviously do exist within me."
That's all she need say.















Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
9-22-2007 @ 3:06PM
arbee said...
i hear she lost her job over it too.
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9-22-2007 @ 3:08PM
dla said...
Simply frightening.
Total disconnect between who she says she is, and what we saw and heard 24 / 7.
And if I have to hear or read that she calls herself "a good person" one more time, I think I will poke pencils in my eyes.
Thank you, Jackie! Great commentary and link to the full interview. I believe it will be my last peek into Amber.
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9-22-2007 @ 3:11PM
Lucy LeBlanc said...
Jackie, I agree with your take on Amber's so called defense. There is no way to justify a racist comment.
Amber spoke these words in the heat of the moment and most folks tend to say how they truly feel when their emotions are stirred - in her own defense Amber states, "I was me in the house, everything I did in that house was who I was." Enough said.
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9-22-2007 @ 3:11PM
dan said...
I listened to that yesterday on Buddy tv and I thought "YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME ???" right ? that's an apology to the jewish community.
If I was Jewish, I would be sooooo insulted. Her apology is just as bad as her initial comments. So now she is lumping every jew in NYC as one type of person...oh boy..that must be loving that in New York.
Nothing better to make one prejudicial comment and then apology with 3 more.....
Hmmm...stupid is as stupid does...isn't that what Forrest Gump would say ?
You can't expect a moron to craft an intelligent apology..although..YOU MIGHT have thought CBS or "Somebody" might have helped her craft an apology instead of what appears of her being left to her own devices.
I love her "I'm not prejudiced, butttttt ALL jews in NY are money motivated, goal oriented.." ..
UGHHHHHHHHH
oh but really what can you expect from her.
stupid is as stupid does
Dan
Southern Cali
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9-22-2007 @ 3:25PM
mr. O said...
If EVERY past contestant from BB US hadn't disappeared into thin air after their respective season(s), I'd be more concerned about this bigot receiving a forum to try and alter perceptions about her anti-semitism.
Hope she really did lose her job...Ceaser's Palace has got to have an HR problem with her blatant prejudices.
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9-22-2007 @ 3:25PM
Dave White said...
Whenever you lump a group of folks together as a whole and speak of traits on a whole, you're being ignorant
What Amber said was obviously hateful and disgusting, but this is a pretty bold statement, and one I think a lot of culture and/or gender scholars would disagree with pretty strongly. Without cultural typifications, Deborah Tannen would be out of a job.
Being able to analyze cultural traits on a macro level, without placing a value judgement in either direction, is a pretty basic aspect of human nature and a pretty essential skill to have when living among people of diverse cultural backgrounds. To deny cultural differences (ie, saying: "People are people, no matter the area or religion, whatever" or "Folks in the New York City area and Jewish people are just like everyone else in the world") is an insult to culture in general and can lead to a lot of needless misunderstandings.
For instance, many children who grow up in urban poverty are raised to treat looking someone directly in the eye as a sign of disrespect, something that is confusing to someone born and raised in a middle class suburb, where it means the exact opposite. Not understanding or denying this pretty clear cultural difference will only lead to a whole mess of confusion and needless cultural clash.
Saying all cultural categorization is ignorant is pretty, well, ignorant.
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9-22-2007 @ 3:55PM
mr. O said...
Wow, Dave.
If I were Jewish and heard her describing how she worked with money-hungry Jews and how she can tell a Jew by their nose, I wouldn't be comfortable working in that environment. And I'm pretty sure Jewish customers wouldn't appreciate it either.
Which culture or social strata teaches people that making gross generalizations about an entire group is acceptable? That seems to be one area that any articulated position agrees is inappropriate...particularly after you've been on the wrong end of it.
Your example about looking people in the eyes seems a prescient one, but I wonder about your defense of Amber's specific comments. How is her "cultural categorization" NOT ignorant?
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9-22-2007 @ 4:14PM
Dave White said...
Oh woa, no no, Amber is a racist bigot and likely a terrible terrible person...that's why I prefaced the comment with "what Amber said was obviously hateful and ignorant." She has no defense.
I was pointing out that the blog post above was misguided in it's whole "there are no macro cultural differences" argument, misguided in a way that is dangerous. Noting cultural differences should be an essential, no detrimental, aspect of living in a diverse society.
Calling people "money hungry" and "selfish," well that's just straight-up ridiculous racism.
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9-22-2007 @ 4:23PM
DEE said...
As much as Dick disgusted me, had Amber somehow managed to win BB8 I would have been even more repulsed. Nobody knows which reality tv players are bigots and for all we know, Mike Boogie, Chicken George, and Howie could be the most prejudiced people in the world, but Amber's stupidity in revealing her hatred makes her a double threat in life---ignorant AND a bigot.
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9-22-2007 @ 6:30PM
mr. O said...
@Dave White: Thanks for clearing that up...and you're right about being upfront about Amber's specific comments.
@William: Have you renamed "Dick" "Richard"? Because I don't remember him being called Richard (or even "Rich") in the house and he certainly didn't introduce himself as such to anyone I saw.
Perhaps you're talking about another show and are confused(?)
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9-22-2007 @ 7:07PM
Syd said...
Jackie -- I like your point... it came from a bad place INSIDE HERSELF. I am all for accountability. It takes courage and character to take responsibility for your words and actions....even if you didn't MEAN to do something, or REALIZE what you did or the ramifications. If one does this, in most cases, people can be forgiven or grow beyond where they were and learn, which really is the best we all can do and that which few actually do in these situations.
I can't believe I'm going to add this, but for all her talking in circles and what a mess Amber truly is, she did indeed say these words:
"I can’t stress to all of you out there how sorry I am I said that. I have friends from all walks of life, and I really wish I could individually apologize to every single one of you out there that I offended. "
That's a decent apology within all her deliusions. We gotta give her credit for at least coughing up these words amid the sea of the rest. Whether she understands any of it... well, I'm not sure about that part.
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9-22-2007 @ 7:53PM
BartmanDK said...
I think the problem is that she doesent realise she made a hatefull comment.. in a live episode they had a "Best of Amber" montage where you saw some of the stupid things she says, and that was only 1 min. long but i can imagin her just blurting out stuff without really thinking about what she really says
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9-22-2007 @ 8:09PM
willy the impeached said...
William I was about to confront your anti-american BS, but I'm pretty sure that as soon as you read the word William, you've already surrendered and crawled into a fetal ball.
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9-22-2007 @ 9:37PM
Jim said...
Dick was the biggest asshole ever to play the game. I thought he was cool for all of one week, then he turned into the biggest PRICK ever to be on reality TV.
Amber is just a simpleton. Dick knows better, and he is still the biggest asshole of reality tv.
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9-22-2007 @ 9:41PM
L in Norfolk said...
Mr. O- many people call Dick "Richard" instead. After hearing Dustin call him that one night, that's the only name my father will refer to him as when speaking with me about the show, forcing me to use it to out of the awkwardness of how it would sound if I told my dad that 'I love Dick!' LOL.
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9-22-2007 @ 10:05PM
Dan said...
William: You come to this discussion not as an honest participant but one whose agenda is to spew venom on Americans. Any vehement reply to you is merely an expression of what is in our "nature." And then you have the chuztpah to end your post with "peace." Talk about holier than thou.
From northeastern Dan
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9-23-2007 @ 12:50AM
bonfiglio said...
What happened to freedom of choice (as to whom we "like" or don't....and freedom of speech in speaking our feelings. Perhaps Amber has issues that go beyond what any of us can and will ever know. How dare we attack her for her opinion? Seems that everyone can speak their mind and opinion openly and freely, unless you are a white, middle-class American these days. And Dick is an A-hole? Isn't that somehow prejudice toward people of his kind? (whatever that "kind" is....: ) Let's all vent and not keep it bottled up! You can only heal an illness if you can open up a wound and let it out!
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9-23-2007 @ 3:40AM
Viewer said...
E.D. is the biggest asshat to ever be seen on BB.
Worst season ever.
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9-23-2007 @ 8:19AM
LC said...
Looks like William is just as ignorant about Americans as Amber is about Jewish people, as we see from his gross generalization of how he thinks we act.
All he has to do is look at this blog, particularly the entries from this past season of BB8 to see how many people loved and hated the Donato's. Not exactly a hive mentality.
I also noticed that he failed to mention what country he is from. I say this because Big Brother has versions of the show in several countries and was wondering if his aired the show and if it's contestants were all Polly Purehearts or were did they have their share of nice people and absolute douchebags.
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9-23-2007 @ 8:29AM
Joe Mama said...
Talk about Dick all you want and how awful he was and all the other descriptions that have been used to describe him, one absolute fact about him, and that is, or was in this case, he was the same way throughout the WHOLE season and that was his game plan. People say, "The houseguests were "terrorized" by his demeanor"., That's a "crock"! There was ample times and opportunities to shut him up and they didn't! You had an ex football player in the house, surely HE could've knocked him on his ass, and don't hand me that BS about the jock and the daughter were smitten with each other and that's why Nick didn't want to step in,B/S!!! Look at the size of Zach, HE could've used that to shut Dick up, but NO, he also was TERRORIZED!, that BS too! As far as Amber, there isn't enough space on this page to describe that USELESS BAG OF MONKEY NUTS!!! Her comments about the jews were WAAAAYYY out of line but when you recieve your thoughts from ANOTHER PLANET you have your own alien language to help interpret them.
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