Carphone Warehouse suspends Celebrity Big Brother sponsorship

Carphone Warehouse has suspended its £3m sponsorship of Celebrity Big Brother amid allegations of racism in the house.

The telecoms giant says it was forced to act after last night’s episode, in which Bollywood film star Shilpa Shetty accused housemates including Jade Goody of being racist for the first time.

Carphone Warehouse chief executive Charles Dunstone says: "Our concern has rapidly mounted about the broadcast behaviour of individuals within the Big Brother house. We are totally against all forms of racism and bullying and indeed this behaviour is entirely at odds with the brand values of The Carphone Warehouse. As a result, we feel that as long as this continues we are unable to associate our brand with the programme.

"We had already made our position clear to Channel 4 that, were this to continue, we would have to consider our position. Nothing we saw last night gave us any comfort. Accordingly, we have instructed Channel 4 to remove our sponsorship and branding with immediate effect."

Carphone’s decision comes after complaints to regulator Ofcom and Channel 4 topped 30,000.