Luke Valentine is out of the Big Brother house—but his ouster isn’t the result of an eviction vote.
The 30-year-old illustrator was given the boot by the show’s powers-that-be after he used the N-word during a conversation with three other male Houseguests.
“Luke violated the Big Brother code of conduct and there is zero tolerance in the house for using a racial slur,” CBS and series producers said in a statement released Wednesday. “He has been removed from the house.”
The statement went on to reveal that the subject will be addressed on Thursday night’s live episode, set to air at 9 p.m. ET.
While the incident, which took place in the early hours of Wednesday morning, didn’t air on Wednesday’s pre-taped episode of Big Brother, many fans have already witnessed it for themselves via the show’s live feeds and in video clips shared widely on social media.
In those clips, Valentine, who is white and hails from Coral Springs, Florida, is seen speaking to Houseguests Jared Fields, Cory Wurtenberger and Hisam Goueli, when he says, “We were in the f—ing cheese room, n—–.” Appearing to catch himself, Valentine, immediately adds, “dude,” as a substitute for the word he’d just said.
Then, with a smile, he turned to Fields, who is Black, and casually adds, “Sorry.”
Wurtenberger and Goueli look frozen in response to Valentine’s comment, while Fields laughs, “You’re off the f—ing ledge.”
The conversation between Valentine and Fields continued, as Valentine later says that one of the other men “got more mad about that than you.” He refers to what happened as “a little slip of the tongue.”
Fields tells Valentine he doesn’t care about it, but in a social game that relies on heavily alliances with other Houseguests, there’s no way to know if that reflects his true feelings.
Before his removal from the house, Valentine seemed aware that he might face consequences for his words, saying, “Well, I’m in trouble now. I’ve been in worse trouble.”
This incident is far from the first time racial slurs, as well as antisemitic, sexist and homophobic slurs, have been heard on the live streams of the long-running reality TV series over the years. However, it is a rare example of quick action being taken in response to it.
Back in 2013, during the show’s 15th season, several Houseguests learned they’d lost their jobs outside of the Big Brother house due to offensive comments they’d made in the house. But they didn’t face consequences from producers.
On Wednesday, Andy Herren, the openly gay winner of Season 15 who was the subject of homophobic remarks, took to X (formerly Twitter) and wrote, “YEARS of problematic behavior and language in the Big Brother house going unpunished led to fans and former houseguests speaking up, and today CBS *finally* listened and did the right thing instead of covering it up. This is huge and will change things moving forward! #BB25”
In addition to covering the topic of Valentine’s ouster, Thursday’s live show is expected to feature the first eviction vote of the season, with Houseguests Kirsten Elwin and Felicia Cannon at risk. However, given that the number of Houseguests is already down by one in the first week, it remains to be seen if the eviction process will go on as planned.
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