‘Big Brother 27’ Player Uses Slur on Live Feeds

Big Brother contestant Isaiah “Zae” Frederich is facing backlash after using an ableist slur on the CBS show’s live feed.

TMZ caught the moment, which happened late at night while Zae was playing chess with houseguest Keanu Soto.

“Oh s—t. I’m a f—king r—d,” Zae said after losing some pieces, before quickly adding, “Damn, I shouldn’t say that word.”

Keanu responded, “No, you shouldn’t,” before Zae noted later, “That’s one of the ones I was working on not saying.” Keanu assured him that he was “good,” adding that he was “lucky it’s late.”

Big Brother fans were quick to pick up on the moment, with some calling for his removal from the house. “Zae saying the r slur is ‘one of the words I’ve been working on not saying’ WDYM ONE OF WHAT ELSE ARE YOU SAYING,” one person tweeted. Another added, “zae using a slur. Yea he just making it easy to get him up out of there,” as a third wrote, “So we all just watched Zae a slur on national [TV] and say it like it was nothing.”

Big Brother is no stranger to live feed controversy, with Season 25 houseguest Luke Valentine being removed from the house after using a racist slur. “Luke violated the ‘Big Brother’ code of conduct and there is zero tolerance in the house for using a racial slur. He has been removed from the house,” CBS said in a statement at the time.

In Season 22, Memphis Garrett was accused of calling fellow player David Alexander the N-word, but after CBS’ investigation into the footage, the network confirmed he had not said the slur, and Garrett was allowed to stay in the house.

Ahead of Season 25, the show’s executive producers told Variety that houseguests were not purposefully cast to be problematic, but that the show does “cast a wide net of people from all different walks of life, all different upbringings, so sometimes you do get surprised along the way.”

Producer Allison Grodner added to the outlet, “It’s a social experiment using a group of people with different life experiences. They all bring that in and learn from each other. They learn, they change, they grow. Hopefully, by watching that, we’re also making a positive impact on the outside world.”