While spouting racist comments on Big Brother is sure to get you noticed, it’s probably not going to make your mom too happy.
That was certainly the case for just-evicted Houseguest Aaryn Gries, who sparked a firestorm of controversy and criticism for making numerous racist and homophobic comments on the show, including telling an Asian-American contestant, “Shut up, go make some rice.”
After her eviction, Gries’s mother, Elizabeth Owens, released a statement to The Los Angeles Times apologizing for her daughter’s actions while also criticizing CBS for exploiting her daughter in order to draw attention to the show.
“While I love and continue to support my daughter Aaryn, words cannot describe my disappointment in some of her comments made on Big Brother,”; wrote Owens. “These inappropriate comments certainly do not represent the value system under which her father and I have raised her. Aaryn is a young 22-year-old college student that has spent 70 days living in a fish bowl and making mistakes for America to see.”
Owens also blasted CBS and host Julie Chen for what the Times describes as a “blatant attempt to boost ratings.”;
“It appears that it was beneficial for Big Brother to focus on the negative comments made by Aaryn to boost ratings,” wrote Owens. “Again, I DO NOT condone those inappropriate comments, but I — and I am sure the entire Big Brother audience — would have appreciated the show’s producers also airing her complete statement acknowledging the mistakes she made and more of her apologies to the Houseguests while still ‘in the house.'”
Owens also criticized statements Big Brother host Julie Chen made about her daughter: “I am disappointed that a woman of Julie Chen’s stature would choose to attack Aaryn and influence America to judge the fallacies [Chen] seems to have about Aaryn.”
Owens then hoped that Aaryn will eventually have the chance to give her own first-person account of what happened on the show in order to “bring light and change to the important subject of racism…it is my hope and prayer that those who have been hurt can find it in their hearts to forgive Aaryn.”
A CBS spokesperson issued this response: “We believe the show has handled a very difficult situation appropriately, and that Aaryn’s comments on the live 24/7 Internet feed and on the broadcast speak for themselves.”
