Celebrity Big Brother contestant Tila Tequila has been evicted from the show over the “views and attitudes” she had expressed “in social media postings prior to her involvement”, Channel 5 said on Friday night, amid claims she had made anti-Semitic remarks.
The glamour model was removed from the Celebrity Big Brother house after posting “totally unacceptable” views on social media, the broadcaster said.
More than 500 people signed a petition calling for her removal after the US TV personality allegedly posted a series of anti-Semitic remarks online.
A Channel 5 spokesman said: “Unfortunately, Channel 5 and Endemol did not know about the views and attitudes Tila had expressed in social media postings prior to her involvement in Celebrity Big Brother.
“When they were brought to our attention, she was called to the Diary Room for a discussion with producers and was subsequently removed from the house.
“The views Tila had expressed, and permitted to remain uncorrected, are totally unacceptable and, accordingly, her continued involvement in the programme was untenable.”
Jewish leaders had called for the Playboy model, whose real name is Thien Thanh Thi Nguyen, to be removed from the house after she was accused of sharing a series of offensive posts online.
Jonathan Sacerdoti, from the Campaign Against Anti-Semitism, said Channel 5 should “apologise fully for their enormous error of judgment”.
A spokesman for the Board of Deputies of British Jews said: “She should never have got anywhere near a programme on British television.”
Nguyen, 33, was one of 13 contestants in the 16th series of Celebrity Big Brother, which started on Thursday.
The mother of one, who was born in Singapore to Vietnamese parents, is best known for her bisexual-themed dating show, A Shot At Love With Tila Tequila.
She previously hit the headlines when her diabetic heiress fiancee Casey Johnson died in 2010 and when she had a sex tape released without her consent the following year.
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