Friday, 19 January 2007

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Jade Goody: I apologise

BB's loudmouth regrets calling the Bollywood star Shilpa Poppadom

In the Big Brother Diary Room, Jade Goody has said she's sorry for any offence her comments have caused to Shilpa Shetty and viewers of Celebrity Big Brother.

'What I said about her was not meant in a racial way,' Jade, 25, insisted. 'If it's offended any Indians out there I apologise.'

Asked about her conversation with Danielle Lloyd, in which she referred to the Bollywood star as Shilpa 'Poppadom', Jade replied. '[I was] thinking of an Indian name and [the] only thing I could think of was Indian food.

'Everyone knows I don't like her. She don't like me. What I said about her was not meant in a racial way - it's not acceptable if done in that way.'

Nevertheless, government Chief Whip Jacqui Smith is concerned about the 'racist bullying' and is urging people not to watch Big Brother.

She has attacked the editing of the show and says it is 'shameful to make money and publicity out of that sort of thing'.

Jade's mother Jackiey Budden, who was evicted from the house last week, has defended her daughter, saying: 'Jade has never been racist, she is mixed race herself and suffered racist abuse as a youngster'.

More than 30,000 complaints have now been made to media regulator Ofcom and 3,000 to Channel 4.

But audience figures are soaring with 3.5 million viewers tuning in on Monday, 4.5 million on Tuesday and 5.2 million on Wednesday.

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