Ken Morley has become the second Celebrity Big Brother contestant to be thrown out by producers in the past 48 hours, for using “unacceptable and offensive language”.
Morley, who played Reg Holdsworth in Coronation Street for a decade from 1989, was removed on Monday after media regulator Ofcom received more than 200 complaints after he used the term “negro” during a conversation with US singer Alexander O’Neal.
The British actor made a joke in a fake Southern US accent in which he made reference to “a nice big fat negro”.
O’Neal responded angrily, telling him: “When you get in the company of another black man, don’t say negro.”
Morley later said he was drunk and could not recall making the comment.
The former Baywatch actor Jeremy Jackson was thrown out of the Endemol-produced Channel 5 show on Saturday after allegedly pulling open contestant Chloe Goodman’s dressing gown.
The exchange between Morley and O’Neal took place on Saturday evening after Jackson was removed, with the former Coronation Street actor initially being issued with a formal warning.
However, there was widespread calls on Twitter and from O’Neal’s wife, Cynthia, for Morley to be removed from the show and on Monday Ofcom revealed that it has received 233 complaints about the incident.
The show issued the following statement: “Ken Morley has been removed from the Celebrity Big Brother house for using unacceptable and offensive language following his formal warning.
“Tuesday’s eviction is now cancelled and lines are now closed. Anyone who has already voted will be able to apply for a full refund and details will be available on the Big Brother website within 24 hours.”
Former Page 3 girl Goodman, 21 claimed Jackson drunkenly tried to look at her breasts while the pair were alone in the toilet.
The alleged incident, which was not shown on camera, came after Goodman went to Jackson’s assistance as he vomited after drinking rum and vodka.
Hertfordshire police, the force covering Borehamwood where the show is filmed, confirmed they were working with its producers to probe what happened.
Ofcom also received two complaints about offensive language used by Katie Hopkins and another four about Jackson.
The complaints about the latest series, which began last Wednesday, are being assessed by Ofcom.
Last year’s series was the second most complained-about show of the year with 1,874 people contacting the watchdog about it.
The only programme with a worse record was the main Big Brother series which received 3,784 complaints, many of them centred on the behaviour of its eventual winner, Helen Wood, who was accused of bullying other contestants.
Ofcom found that the show breached the broadcasting code last year after it showed a pre-watershed scene where housemates swore 14 times within 50 seconds.
