Julie Chen On ‘Big Brother’ Racism: ‘It Stung’ [Video]

After a week of shocking headlines reporting overt racism in the Big Brother house this season, host Julie Chen finally spoke out on the controversy during a live taping of the CBS program The Talk.

Several houseguests incited controversy last week when they were heard making racist, homophobic and misogynistic comments on the live feeds. On Sunday night, CBS played a montage of these comments in the latest episode.

Both Aaryn Gries and GinaMarie Zimmerman have since been fired from their day jobs over the Big Brother racism controversy.

On Monday morning, the show’s host Julie Chen finally spoke out about the racism shown by some of the cast, saying “I have to be honest, it stung.”

“Those things, in my opinion… it felt mean-spirited. It felt ugly and it felt mean.”

Chen continued:

“When I first found out that Aaryn, who is a 22-year-old girl, made anti-gay, anti-black and anti-Asian comments, I have to be honest, the Asian ones hit me the most. It stung. I took it personally. I’m a human being. The really sad part, it took me back to the ’70s when I was growing up in Queens and I was 7 years old getting bullied, being called a chink. I thought, ‘Wow I haven’t heard comments like that [in years]. The year is 2013. I felt ignorant, there are still people in the country who feel and act that way? Yes there [are]. It made me sad. She’s 22 and she’s college educated.”

After the story made waves last week, CBS issued a statement saying, “At times, the houseguests reveal prejudices and other beliefs that we do not condone. We certainly find the statements made by several of the houseguests on the live Internet feed to be offensive.”

Here’s video of Julie Chen talking Big Brother racism: