Retired boxer Evander Holyfield got a strict warning from the "Celebrity Big Brother UK" producers this week after he made homophobic comments claiming that being gay "ain't normal" and is a "handicap" that can be "fixed."
Holyfield, 51, made his first appearance as a contestant on the British reality show this week but got a little too comfortable during a conversation with housemate and reality star Luisa Zissman.
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During the talk, Zissman broached the subject of gay athletes and expressed her wish that more of them felt comfortable enough to come out.
"That's just the way some people are born," she said.
But the former Undisputed World Champion boxer argued: "It don't make no difference. If you're born and your leg was turned this way, what do you do? You go to a doctor and get it fixed back right."
Producers later took Holyfield aside and cautioned him about expressing his "offensive opinions."
"While 'Big Brother' understands these are the views you hold, they aren't the views that are held by a large section of society, and expressing these views will be extremely offensive to many people," a producer told Holyfield. "'Big Brother' does not tolerate the use of offensive language and must therefore warn you to consider very carefully the effect expressing such views may have and the harm and offense you may cause by repeating these views inside the house."
Holyfield did not apologize for his remarks, instead saying he forgot he was on camera at the time.
"I forgot about the thing. I was just telling her my opinion but it's not like I was going to mention [it] to anybody else. It was just our conversation," he said.
British communications watchdog Ofcom, which is equivalent to the FCC in the U.S., has already received
several complaints about Holyfield's comments, according to The Guardian.
Holyfield's controversial comments also sparked an uproar on Twitter, which even celebrities like Boy George and British actress Lauren Pope joined in on.
The controversy is reminiscent of the recent
"Duck Dynasty" scandal that saw Phil Robertson briefly suspended from the hit A&E reality show after he was quoted in GQ magazine as saying that being gay leads to bestiality and the deterioration of our culture through sexual promiscuity.
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