Anti-Jewish jokes broadcast on German "Big Brother" television programme

The German version of the reality show "Big Brother" has run into trouble after one of its contestants told a series of offensive jokes about Jews on live national television. The head of pay-TV service Premiere, Georg Kofler, fired two employees who allowed the scene to be broadcast on 2 October after he learned about the incident from a newspaper. The program features a cast of candidates who live in a house together for several weeks under the constant watch of dozens of television cameras. Viewers call in each week to vote out a player until one winner is left. The candidate in question, an Italian-born waiter named Michele from the northern German city of Hamburg, told three anti-Semitic jokes while on camera. Michele was warned and threatened with being kicked out by the broadcaster's management, but viewers took matters into their own hands and voted the candidate out of the show. The affair has rekindled debates about "Big Brother", with politicians asking for it to be ended.