‘Big Brother’ Winner Andy Herren Calls For Zero-Tolerance Discrimination Policy For Season 22


Big Brother Season 15 star Andy Herren is calling out CBS for casting racist houseguests on the long-running summertime reality show, and he is calling for a “zero tolerance” policy going forward.

On Twitter, Herren, who was part of one of the most controversial seasons ever on the CBS reality show, gave the Big Brother bosses some advice for Season 22 amid the show’s ongoing racism problem.

Big Brother should implement a zero-tolerance discrimination policy,” Herren tweeted. “You say something racist/homophobic/transphobic/Islamophobic/bigoted and you’re out, no questions asked!!!!!!”

The openly gay reality star also pointed out that on his season of the show, only he and Helen Kim, an Asian cast mate, didn’t have their Head of Household rooms featured after they won the coveted HOH title.

“Annoying fact about my Big Brother season,” Herren wrote. ” Every HoH room reveal (a segment that really humanizes houseguests) was shown except for Helen’s and BOTH of mine, the only two people to win HoH all season who weren’t white/straight. Says a lot even if it wasn’t intentional…”

The Big Brother Season 15 winner made his comments as news of a possible all-stars season featuring past cast members is making headlines. 2020 marks the 20th anniversary of Big Brother, and several former winners and notable alumni have reportedly been approached about returning for the upcoming season of the show.

Herren has been vocal about the fact that racism has continued to dominate the most recent Big Brother seasons. The BB15 winner recently questioned why CBS continued to cast — and sometimes protect — racist houseguests after his polarizing season, and he noted that the network should not cast past all-star houseguests that they’ve “protected” in the past.

Herren’s season of Big Brother in 2013 featured several contestants who made racist and transphobic comments while on camera. The content was so offensive that CBS put up a disclaimer ahead of the episodes.

In a roundtable discussion with The Hollywood Reporter, Big Brother host Julie Chen Moonves admitted that Season 15 was a difficult season for her to host due to the “overt racism in the house.”

But the show continued to cast controversial houseguests. In Season 20, two white female Big Brother contestants were caught on camera describing their suntanned skin as looking “ghetto.” In addition, contestant JC Mounduix came under fire for saying the N-word during a conversation with a black cast mate.

And last season’s Big Brother winner Jackson Michie was also accused of racism after he “banished” three minority houseguests from the house in a bizarre twist at the beginning of the season. Michie and fellow cast mate Jack Matthews also repeatedly butted heads with Hispanic contestant Jessica Milagros and African American contestant Kemi Kakunle.

While critics complained that Michie got a good edit throughout the season, moments before he was announced as the winner of Big Brother 21, Chen blindsided Michie by informing him that America thought some of his actions in the house were racist.

In an interview with Global News, Michie denied that he is racist. The Big Brother winner said that he never discriminated against anyone based on their race, religion, age, gender, or orientation and added that all of his moves were “strictly game.”

Share this article: ‘Big Brother’ Winner Andy Herren Calls For Zero-Tolerance Discrimination Policy For Season 22
More from Inquisitr