Comments made by Christopher Biggins about bisexual people during Celebrity Big Brother did not breach broadcasting standards, it has been ruled.
Broadcasting watchdog Ofcom received 44 complaints and launched an investigation into Christopher’s comments, which saw him booted out of the Channel 5 show in August.
Before being removed from the show, Christopher was given three warnings by Big Brother for his remarks on bisexuality and for a comment – which was not broadcast – on gas chambers.
An Ofcom spokesman said: “We investigated whether a discussion between Christopher Biggins and Renee Graziano about the sexual orientation of bisexual people was offensive.
“We accepted that these remarks made in Celebrity Big Brother were capable of causing offence, but they were likely to be within the audience’s expectations of this programme.”
During a conversation about homosexuality, the openly gay star said: “The worst type though is, I’m afraid to say, the bisexuals… what it is is people not wanting to admit they are gay.”
He was then seen agreeing with fellow contestant Renee’s comment that ”you have to pick a team”.
The media watchdog also confirmed The X Factor will not be investigated following complaints from viewers about “joke” acts being included over serious singers.
Furthermore, comments made by Simon Cowell to a contestant on the ITV singing show were assessed, but will not be investigated further.
Ofcom said: ”We assessed a small number of complaints about Simon Cowell’s comments towards a contestant. In our view, this was a personal critique that was balanced by comments from other judges, and was justified by the context.”
During the judges’ houses phase of the show, Simon told 17-year-old
Samantha Lavery to “peel away the mask” during her performance.
Simon was roundly criticised by Spice Girls Emma Bunton and Mel B who were helping him narrow his seven acts into a final three, after his comments to the teenager.
He told Samantha: “I kind of wish we had met without what you think is your pop-star image. I think that with you we have had a bit of a mask put up. All I’m saying Sam is I want to peel away the mask.”
Simon then turned to Mel B and Emma and asked if his remarks were “bad”, with Emma telling him the youngster was “allowed to experiment” and Mel B adding: “It is bad… that’s what kids do.”
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