‘Big Brother’ 2021: Julie Chen Weighs in on Fans Who Think the Cookout Alliance Is Racist

Big Brother‘s Cookout alliance is on its way to possibly make history with the first Black winner in the CBS reality competition’s history, but some viewers of the show are calling out the alliance of POC players as “racist.” Host Julie Chen-Moonves weighed in on the controversy in a new interview with Entertainment Weekly, saying in her “humble opinion, it is not.” 

The longtime Big Brother host weighed in on the alliance formed in week one consisting of Kyland, Hannah, Tiffany, Azah, Xavier and Derek F., who have all discussed their mission to get a player of color to the end. “I think it’s hard for some people who are not of color to understand the importance of the Cookout making it this far,” Chen-Moonves said. “I have heard some call the formation of the Cookout a form of racism. In my humble opinion, it is not.”

“As a fan of the show, it’s impressive to see an alliance this big make it this far,” she continued. “That rarely happens.” With just non-Cookout members Alyssa and Claire remaining in the game before the alliance makes it to the final six completely unscathed, the Cookout has already become one of the most successful alliances ever in the game, and made history by forming a jury with no white men on it. 

Shockingly, the members of the Cookout have flown almost completely under the radar, with Derek X coming closest to figuring out what was going on before he was successfully evicted. The alliance has definitely disagreed from week to week, showing cracks over who to target next, but has stayed together impressively. 

On Aug. 27, Chen Moonves told Entertainment Weekly that she thought Xavier and Tiffany were in the best spot within the Cookout when the alliance eventually has to turn against itself. “On one hand, I’d say Xavier because no one in the Cookout has had any tension or issues with him. But they’ve got to realize at some point they need to evict him because he’s really hard to beat in a final 2,” she reasoned. “As for Tiffany, don’t count her out. She revealed to us on last night’s live show that her prayers were answered when she won HOH. Don’t underestimate the power of prayer. Prayer works.”