Well, that didn’t take long. We’re only a few days into Celebrity Big Brother UK, and already someone has said something problematic. This week, Mickey Rourke, the 72-year-old actor-turned-boxer-turned-reality-TV-contestant, managed to land himself in hot water after a series of comments directed at 21-year-old JoJo Siwa.
Spoiler alert: they weren’t exactly glowing compliments.
During Wednesday night’s episode, Rourke (who you might know as the bad guy in Iron Man 2) asked Siwa — our CEO of gay pop — if she was into boys or girls. Siwa, who is openly gay and dating Aussie content creator Kath Ebbs, replied: “Girls.”
She adds, “My partner is nonbinary.”
Instead of leaving it there like a normal person, Rourke decided to take things to a very weird place by saying, “If I stay longer than four days, you won’t be gay anymore.”
Yep. That happened.
Siwa, shut him down immediately: “I can guarantee I’ll still be gay and I’ll still be in a very happy relationship.”
Rourke then replies to JoJo saying he’ll “tie her up”.
Later on, Rourke was overheard telling another housemate that he was planning to “vote the lesbian out real quick”, to which JoJo immediately called out as “homophobic”.
Oh, but it doesn’t stop there. While heading to the smoking area (which JoJo was kind enough to show him to earlier on), Rourke announced he needed a “f*g” and then gestured toward Siwa, adding, “I’m not talking to you.”
Subtle as a brick through a window.
Naturally, Big Brother wasn’t having it. Rourke was promptly called into the Diary Room for a stern talking-to. Producers told him his language was “offensive and unacceptable” and warned that any further behaviour like this could see him booted from the house.
To his credit (or maybe just to avoid getting kicked out), Rourke apologised both privately to Siwa and publicly in the house. “I don’t have dishonourable intentions,” he said.
“I’m just talking smack, you know. I wasn’t taking it all so serious. I didn’t mean any bad intentions and if I did, sorry.” Siwa graciously accepted his apology because she’s clearly the bigger person here, though let’s be real, she didn’t have to be.
ITV also confirmed to Variety that all housemates undergo respect and inclusion training before entering the house (which makes you wonder how much of it actually stuck). They also reiterated that inappropriate behaviour would be dealt with swiftly — so consider this Mickey’s official warning shot.
As for Siwa? She’s already proven she can handle herself in the face of ignorance. After all, this is someone who survived Dance Moms — a show that’s basically emotional warfare disguised as reality TV. If anyone can keep their head high in this mess, it’s her.
JoJo’s partner Kath took to their Instagram Stories to speak on the cooked situation and called it “quite frankly it is beyond disgusting”.
“Take the fact out that I have massive emotional stakes in his comments towards her, it is also just rooted in misogyny and violence,” Kath said.
Kath also posted a video to their Instagram on the matter: “There are so many fucking layers to that interaction, it makes me feel sick to my stomach.
“I do feel a little bit disappointed that that hasn’t been an added layer to the conversation. Yes, I’m glad that production gave him a formal warning and told him what he said was homophobic, but that is dangerous language. I would not want to be alone in a room together.”
Siwa had another conversation with Rourke about fellow cast mate Danny Beard who is a drag queen. After Rourke admitted to not having seen a drag queen “so put together” before and then confirmed with Siwa that he can’t say “[insert censored slur here]”, the dancer had some wise words to share with him.
“Anything is okay to say in context and intention. That’s what matters. And if you say something wrong, but you didn’t know and you’re open to hearing — all good,” she said.
So there you have it: one week in and we’ve already got homophobia accusations, awkward apologies, and Diary Room drama galore. Stay tuned — something tells me the drama on this season is just getting started.
Lead image: Instagram / Celebrity Big Brother / TikTok
The post Kath Ebbs Slams Celeb Big Brother After GF JoJo Siwa Cops Homophobic Remarks From Actor appeared first on PEDESTRIAN.TV .
