On Saturday, the news broke that Mickey Rourke had been removed from the UK’s “Celebrity Big Brother” house after repeated instances of “inappropriate language” and “unacceptable behavior.”
His removal came just days after the ITV reality show had launched, and the 72-year-old Hollywood actor had already sparked outrage for a series of anti-gay comments that he made about JoJo Siwa earlier in the week.
In uncomfortable scenes, Rourke asked 21-year-old Siwa if she liked girls or boys, she replied: “Me? Girls. My partner is nonbinary.” In response, Rourke said: “If I stay longer than four days, you won’t be gay anymore.”
Siwa remained calm as she retorted: “I can guarantee I’ll still be gay, and I’ll still be in a very happy relationship,” but Rourke horrified viewers when he hit back with: “I’ll tie you up.”
Soon after, Rourke told former “Love Island” star Chris Hughes: “I’m going to vote the lesbian out real quick,” and when he was called out on his comments, Rourke used the F-slur while motioning toward Siwa and saying: “I’m not talking about you.”
Siwa was reduced to tears by the exchange and comforted by her housemates, with Big Brother issuing Rourke a warning for his comments.
His exit aired in Sunday night’s episode of the show, and his behavior and language leading up to his departure were also pretty shocking, with multiple female housemates expressing how uncomfortable they felt around him.
At one point in the day, 24-year-old reality star Ella Rae Wise said: “Mickey, you’ve got to come with me,” and he replied: “Come in you?” The other housemates were noticeably horrified, with drag performer Danny Beard snapping: “Mickey, you can’t make them jokes!”
Later, as part of a pirate-themed task, Rourke squared up to Hughes after Hughes jokingly stepped out of line and stared at him when they playfully said there was “a rat among” them. Approaching Hughes, Rourke asked: “You looking at me? Don’t eyeball me.”
As the others tried to defuse the situation by telling Rourke that it was just a joke, Rourke continued: “Don’t fucking eyeball me, what are you going to do? You cunt. Your ass will be right there in a second.”
Rourke was called to speak with Big Brother in the Diary Room, where he insisted: “Nothing really happened, we were just bantering back and forth. Sometimes someone can look at you a certain way in your eye, and they’re saying something without saying it.”
He apologized to Hughes and the two hugged it out, but the women in the house were left unnerved by both incidents.
Wise ended up breaking down in tears as she reflected on Rourke’s earlier comment to her, saying: “You can be just someone, but you also have to be mindful of what it can trigger in other people because it’s made me feel very uneasy.”
“I don’t want to cry, it’s fine, I just don’t like it. I don’t like all the sexual innuendos about: ‘You’re going to come in me’ and that,” she tearfully continued.
“That’s it, that is not OK, and it’s driving me mad,” actor Patsy Palmer agreed. “And it’s not funny. In what world is any of that stuff funny?”
Speaking to Big Brother in the Diary Room, emotional Wise added: “It just makes me feel on edge. I don’t like the jokes, like, the sexual jokes that have been made towards me. I’m a young girl, I’m not a piece of meat, do you know what I mean? He’s making people feel really uneasy.”
Actor Donna Preston and TV presenter Angellica Bell felt the same way, with Preston saying: “It’s made me quite sad, that. I don’t have any respect [for Mickey] at all, at all now,” and Bell fought back tears as she said: “It does affect us all.”
“It’s fucked up, this shit,” Preston concluded. “It’s causing a weird place, I don’t like it.”
Rourke was called to the Diary Room that evening, and when he was told about the “inappropriate sexual language” he’d used toward Wise, he had no idea what they were talking about, saying: “I’m not aware of that, but OK.”
“This language has caused offense to your fellow housemates and could cause offense to the viewing public,” Big Brother added, to which Rourke acknowledged: “I did wrong, I apologize, I’m sorry, I can’t take it back. I stepped over the line, and I take responsibility for doing the wrong thing because I lost my temper. And I’ve been trying to work on it my whole life, and I wish I would have had better self-control.”
“I’m very sorry, I’m ashamed of myself for losing it for a few seconds there,” he added of the incident with Hughes. “Nobody got touched or hurt, maybe some feelings got hurt, or maybe others have feelings about someone getting upset, but I’m sorry about that.”
And when Big Brother said they had “no option” but to ask Rourke to leave the house, Rourke understood. In fact, he admitted that he’d wanted to go the previous day when he was up for eviction, but he did not get voted out.
“I blame myself, I know it was my bad,” he said. “I’ve got a short fuse and I know I upset a lot of people out there. And I’m sorry for that, I’m actually ashamed of myself for getting that hot. I went over the line, I did wrong. I guess, like you say, I’m a work in progress. I just want to pack my bags and leave. I wanted to leave yesterday, actually, but wasn’t chosen. I’d like to leave now, actually.”
But despite this, it has now been revealed that Rourke is pursuing legal action against “Celebrity Big Brother,” with his manager, Kimberly Hines, alleging in a statement to People that the show had disrespected Rourke by “publicly embarrassing him.” There is also unrest over the fact that Rourke isn’t receiving his full payout, with it being reported that he will only be paid 10% of his unverified £500,000 ($662k) fee.
Paul Archuleta / Getty Images
“There’s no question that when ‘Big Brother’ booked Mickey Rourke, they were fully aware of both his public persona and how it aligned with his Hollywood rebel image,” Hines said in the statement, adding that ITV knew when booking Rourke that he would be “explosive, controversial and attention-grabbing — and that’s exactly what they got, and more.”
“In our discussions, ‘Big Brother’ was made fully aware of Mickey Rourke’s background and lifestyle,” the statement went on. “Yet rather than handle it professionally, they took it too far — publicly embarrassing him and using his removal as a marketing tool. That’s not just unprofessional; it’s deeply disrespectful and damaging.”
“To add insult to injury, ‘Big Brother’ is now refusing to pay Mickey his full agreed-upon fee. His legal team is currently pursuing the matter,” Hines concluded, claiming that “Big Brother’s” use of Rourke’s “name and image” is “an insult to a true cinematic icon” after a “long and accomplished career.”
BuzzFeed has contacted ITV for comment.
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