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CBS owes an apology for Big Brother faux pas

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ChenThis is no laughing matter. John Gilmore, executive director of Autism United, said today that CBS must apologize for an insensitive remark made on the Julie Chen-hosted reality show Big Brother during last week's episode. One of the contestants, a man named Adam, said that if he was the show's big winner, he would use the money to start a hair salon for people with developmental disabilities. Adam went on to say he wanted a beauty shop "so retards can get it together and get their hair done." When Sheila, another contestant, protested, "Don't call them that," Adam declared that, "Disabled kids. I can call them whatever I want. I work with them all day, okay?"

According to CBS's Big Brother web site, Adam is a public relations manager for an unnamed foundation. The 29-year-old is from Cherry Hill, New Jersey, but is now living in Delray Beach, Florida.

CBS has yet to respond to Mr. Gilmore's request, but it would be highly unlikely for the network to remain quiet for long. In fact, considering the politically correct era in which we live, it's shocking that CBS did not catch this faux pas before Big Brother was broadcast. Just last week, Jane Fonda uttered an inappropriate word, a vulgarity, on Today, prompting NBC to apologize for the slip. Also, news reporter David Shuster was suspended by MSNBC for using street slang terminology to describe Chelsea Clinton's campaigning for her mother. In both those instances, though, the programs were live. CBS had ample time to vet the Big Brother episode.

It's ironic, really, because the term Big Brother refers to George Orwell's classic novel 1984, in which the characters live in a totalitarian state where their every word and action is monitored. If you do something wrong, you're caught and punished. Had the producers of the TV Big Brother been doing their job, Adam's callous comment would have never made it out of the editing booth.

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