New Delhi: Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown on Friday supported Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty who has been in the news over alleged racist slurs hurled at her on British reality TV show Celebrity Big Brother.
"There is a lot of support for Shilpa. It is pretty clear we are getting the message across. Britain is a nation of tolerance and fairness," Brown was quoted by Reuters as saying while on a visit to a Mumbai studio.
Shilpa is one of the nine participants on the show and joined it two weeks ago.
The show chronicles the activities of the participants after they are locked in a house together. The media has been abuzz with racist remarks against the actress from fellow housemates.
Shilpa however, took a sudden U-turn on Thursday night and said she was no victim.
A recorded conversation with another participant on the show, Cleo Rocos, showed Shilpa saying that she feels racially abused.
"I am representing my country. Is that what today's UK is? It's scary. It's quite a shame really," Shilpa said to Rocos during the show. She added that she did not deserve this kind of treatment at all.
Rocos apparently replied saying that the behaviour of another participant - Jade Goody, about whom Shilpa was complaining - was not racist, to which Shilpa replied saying, "I am telling you it is."
Shilpa complained to Rocos after loud-mouthed former dental nurse Jade Goody apparently shouted at her saying "go back to the slums", during a huge row.
Despite being abused and racially targetted, Shilpa apparently said that she would not stoop as low as trading insults with other participants. She allegedly even advised a participant to "go and learn some manners".
The issue surfaced on Wednesday night after a row over stock cubes used in their communal cooking in which a housemate on the show said: "Shilpa should f*** off home. She can't even speak English".
A massive controvrsy has erupted after Shilpa Shetty was called a 'Paki', a 'dog' and accused of being a 'dirty Indian' and India was called 'a place where people are ill and thin' on the show.
Millions have protested on the Internet and the British Prime Minister, the Chancellor and the Exchequer, the Indian Minister for Information and Broadcasting and Minister of State for External Affairs have all jumped into the fray, reacting to the racist abuse.
Tony Blair had said on Wednesday the House of Commons that he was opposed to racism in all its forms when Labour MP Keith Vaz raised the issue.
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