Luke Valentine Has Been Removed From the 'Big Brother 25' House — What Happened?

On Aug. 8, 2023, CBS and Big Brother producers announced that Season 25 houseguest Luke Valentine has been removed from the game. What happened? Read on to find out the controversy.

While chatting with his fellow houseguests, Luke casually dropped the N-word in a conversation caught on the live feeds. After realizing his mistake, he tried to correct himself by saying "dude" and laughing it off. So gross.

As expected, many fans (including us, of course) and former Big Brother players took to social media and called for Luke's instant removal from the game.

"Luke slipped up! That is a part of his daily vocabulary and vernacular!! Big Brother needs to remove someone that is so casually using slurs," one fan said on X, formerly known as Twitter. "He said 'My bad,' because he slipped, and he knows it's wrong, but he chooses to use it depending on who he's around!"

Another fan commented on the situation, writing, "Luke should've been immediately called into the diary room and held there until they removed him from the game. There should be no question of whether Big Brother tolerates hate speech or not but they continue to fail where action should be taken."

"Production should remove Luke. Set an example. Show current and future players that language like that will not be tolerated," Andy Herren, who won Big Brother 15, tweeted, later claiming that the show also loves to hide "racism, and homophobia, and transphobia when straight white men are involved. ... The way it so casually came out of his mouth is really upsetting."

Season 21 houseguest Kat Dunn also weighed in:"Big Brother needs to expel Luke, it's just how it is."

"At this point, keeping him in the house would be a slap in the face to every person who has stood up for or tried to change the racist allegations that the show has experienced in the past," she added. "We've come too far for some random dude to come in and ruin it week one."

Now, it's official — Luke has been removed from Big Brother 25: "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 and Big Brother producers said in a statement. "His departure will be addressed in Thursday night's show."

Catch Big Brother on Sundays and Wednesdays at 8 p.m. EST and Thursdays at 9 p.m. EST on CBS.