No racist slurs, Shilpa now says

INDIA: Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty moved to defuse a ballooning row over alleged racist slurs against her in a British TV reality show by saying nothing of the sort happened, even as the future of the show hung in the balance after its main sponsor withdrew.

"I don't feel that there was any racial discrimination," a highly emotional Shetty said on Channel 4, which had broadcast an episode of the Celebrity Big Brother show in which some of the participants seemed to be racially taunting the leggy actor.

This was a clear retraction from an earlier statement on Wednesday in which Shetty, the first Indian actress to participate in the popular Channel 4 show, maintained she was racially targeted.

"I think there are a lot of insecurities in (show participant Jade Goody) but that's not racial," Shetty maintained. "I take that back," she said of her earlier statement.

"I don't like the way she speaks - that's my only complaint against Jade. She does need to brush up on her manners." Celebrity Big Brother had drawn unprecedented viewership after a controversy exploded over alleged racist slurs and became a diplomatic issue.

A record 30,000 complaints were made over the alleged racist comments as the viewership of the programme crossed six million mark.

The controversy had deepened further with the long-legged Indian beauty herself saying that she indeed was a victim of racial abuse even as British leader Gordon Brown, on his first visit to India, called the much-publicised slurs "unacceptable".

"This is unacceptable. Thousands of British people have already condemned it," British Chancellor of the Exchequer Brown, the Labour's prime minister-in-waiting, told reporters in New Delhi.

Meanwhile a row over alleged bullying and racism on the British reality television show is set to come to a head Friday with viewers deciding on whether to back Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty or the woman alleged to have intimidated her.

LONDON, Friday, IANS, AFP