‘Are you a girl?’ Big Brother US contestant insensitively asks woman if she’s trans
Courtesy of CBS
A contestant on Big Brother in the US has asked a fellow housemate if she is a “real girl”, and said there had been a comment made that she was trans.
JC Mounduix conceded when pressed by housemate, Rachel Swindler, that the comment had only been made by him.
However, he went on to badger Swindler about her gender, even reaching out and brushing her throat and saying she has a “big adam’s apple.”
Swindler brushed his hand away and told him he was being rude, and added that there was “not a chance” that she was trans.
Fans of the show have been calling Mounduix out for suggesting that trans women are not real women, with one person commenting: “Just throw away the whole season.”
This is not the first time Mounduix has created controversy on the show.
Contestants on the CBS show previously received a warning from show producers of “future consequences” for inappropriate behaviour after Mounduix touched a female contestant’s genitals with an ice cream scooper.
He also came under fire from both fans and other contestants after using the “n-word” when speaking with a black contestant.
The show has previously been at the receiving end of criticisms about homophobic, racist and transphobic remarks.
The show featured its first openly transgender contestant in 2015 when Audrey Middleton joined the show.
Audrey Middleton
However, in 2017, a group of contestants had a conversation about Middleton’s time on the show, with one of them referring to her as “it”.
One of the contestants said she was “a dude dressed up as a woman”, and another replied, “Okay it was a dude.”
Middleton responded to the incident with a public statement, saying: “Lucky for me I love who I am and have enough self esteem to handle what was said. So hit me with your best shot!
“I’m also very grateful it happened at my expense instead of someone else’s, and am very sorry to the people who were personally hurt by the statements,” she added.
