More than 350 complaints have been received about homophobic remarks made by Celebrity Big Brother contestant Winston McKenzie.
During Tuesday’s launch show, Channel 5 showed the former Ukip spokesman and London mayoral hopeful discussing how he would handle homosexual housemates.
In the pre-recorded footage, he said: “I don’t know how I’d cope with a homosexual in the house. I guess I’d have to be standing against a wall all the time.”
His fellow housemates John Partridge and Christopher Maloney are openly gay.
An Ofcom spokesman said 352 complaints had been received, adding: “We will assess these complaints before deciding whether to investigate or not.”
During Wednesday’s show, Winston showed his new housemates no subject is off-limits as he turned his attention to immigration.
Less than 48 hours after entering the house, divisions were beginning to appear as Jonathan Cheban labelled his remarks “c**p” and threatened to give him the cold shoulder should he air his views on immigration again.
In a conversation with David Gest, he said: “I don’t work with the system. I’m off the wall … Nobody’s saying we don’t want immigration. All that people are saying is, control it. Get sensible. Control the situation.”
Winston found an ally in the American producer, who told him: “I like you, I respect you, that’s the truth … We’ll continue this. This will be continued. We’ve got a while here.
However Jonathan, a PR guru and friend of Kim Kardashian, was less than impressed by the pair’s chat.
In a separate room, he said: “By the way, just so you know, I don’t survive conversations like that. I get up and go.
“I can’t pretend … I literally would be like, ‘Winston, I can’t even listen to this c**p. I’ve gotta go’. I just don’t want to hear – I can’t pretend to fake a conversation. I’m just not interested.”
Friday’s show will see the first eviction from the Celebrity Big Brother house.
