Why aren’t Ivette’s “raving lunatic racist” comments and other offensive remarks airing?

Two seasons ago, the final two Big Brother houseguests made racist and homophobic comments while in the house, but those comments were never aired. This season is, apparently and tragically, no different.

Executive producer Arnold Shapiro says the cast is “the most divisive one we’ve ever had,” and houseguests on both sides of the division have made off-color and offensive remarks. (A poster at Joker’s Updates has compiled many of them, although I’m having trouble finding the exact post.)

Now, we’re left with Ivette Corredero and Maggie Ausburn, who are “detested for their gossiping, trash-talking and scheming ways,” as Jam! Showbiz’s John Powell writes. Ivette has, in particular, been responsible for a number of ugly remarks, which may or may not be surprising considering that she’s a member of more than one underrepresented groups. For example, live feed watchers report that Ivette called Kaysar both a “fake Muslim” and a “sand nigger.”

AfterEllen.com recently examined Ivette’s stated goal of providing “a different perspective of what gay women look like.” The site asked, “So what do lesbians look like, based on Ivette’s example? Uninformed, highly opinionated, borderline racist, overly emotional, frequently hypocritical, self-absorbed women who talk a lot without thinking.”

But why are Ivette’s comments–and those of the other houseguests–not making it to the television show?

To find the answer, we have to go back to August, when Arnold Shapiro appeared on House Calls, CBS’ online talk show. I would have watched it then, except I can’t stand host Marcellas’ insipid screeching and Gretchen’s wannabe Kelly Ripaness, and I’ve already wasted enough of my summer on Big Brother. But I digress.

Besides addressing controversies like Jennifer’s HOH win and the producers’ refusal to protect Kaysar from eviction, Shapiro said that they edit the show to be fair. “We don’t edit favoring anybody. … We go out of our way to be as objective as we possibly can.”

Still, he said both he and CBS wouldn’t permit some content to be included. “I’m appalled by any racial or religious slur, personally. You will notice that they do not end up on the television show. … I wish that racial and religious slurs did not happen.”

Marcellas then asked about Ivette specifically, calling her “raving lunatic racist” and noting that editing out her horrific comments might make her appear more favorably.

Arnold Shapiro said, “We’re not trying to do it to make Ivettte look better, because anybody on the Internet knows the 100 percent truth about this thing. We and CBS do not want to put those kind of comments on national television. There’s a bigger purpose and picture here, and I wouldn’t want my name on a show that was having those kinds of things spoken.”