Former ‘Big Brother’ Champ Dick Donato Under Fire for Previously Using Racial Slurs
Believing Big Brother 8 winner Dick Donato should lose his platform for “cyberbullying” previous and current houseguests, Paul Abrahamian tweeted a clip of Dick using a racial slur. The former champ has since apologized for the offensive word he used.
Dick Donato is known for offensive behavior on ‘Big Brother’ and after
California-based bar owner Dick Donato competed on the eighth season of Big Brother alongside his “rival,” estranged daughter, Dani. Although the two hadn’t spoken for a few years, they played well together.
When they became nominees during Week 6, Dick attempted to make himself the bigger target by intimidating the other houseguests by personally attacking them.
He mocked Dustin Erikstrup’s sexual orientation and poured tea on Jen Johnson as well as burned her with a lit cigarette later in the season. Despite his behavior, five of the seven jurors felt the California native played the best game and awarded Dick the win over Dani.
After winning the show, he returned for BB13 with his daughter but left in the first week due to a positive HIV test. For the past several years, he has hosted weekly podcast, Dick at Nite, in which he discusses the current seasons of Big Brother.
Paul Abrahamian tweets a clip of Dick Donato using a racial slur
Two-time runner-up Paul Abrahamian, who prefers gender neutral pronouns, and Dick have had a rivalry since the former appeared on BB four years ago. Paul, who is currently raising awareness for the Azerbaijan and Armenia conflict, called the season 8 winner out in an Oct. 14 tweet for posting an offensive tweet about their activism while purposefully misusing pronouns.
However, Dick claimed he never tweeted the “fake” post and believed someone made it to create a conflict between him and Paul.
A couple of days later, the season 18 runner-up posted a clip of an old Dick at Nite episode. Paul called the former winner an “openly racist and homophobic piece of s**t” who should “lose his platform” after years of saying hateful things to and about former houseguests on his podcast and Twitter account.
The 2014 ten-second video includes Dick talking with BB13 winner Rachel Villegas and her sister, BB15 star Elissa Slater. He says, “God, nobody say “n***er,” and began laughing.
Rachel’s eyes widened, and she yelled his name before the clip quickly jumped to Dick defending his usage of the slur, noting, “I have plenty of black fans that are OK with me saying it.” The video then ended before he gave his explanation.
Dick Donato apologized for using a racial slur
After the video resurfaced, Rachel insisted she didn’t “condone” his words before deleting her account. Other Big Brother stars, including Dani Reyes, James Rhine, and season 16 winner Derrick Levasseur also denounced Dick’s behavior.
A few hours after Paul tweeted the clip, Dick apologized for using the racial slur and admitted he had previously used the offensive word before.
One Twitter user then posted an Instagram picture of Paul with friends, and the BB star allegedly commented, “N***a, we made it.” Paul claimed the photo has already been addressed and insisted someone faked it due to the missing verified blue checkmark.
The BB18 star also claimed the screenshot wasn’t real because they “don’t use that word.” Big Brother 22: All-Stars airs Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays at 9/8c on CBS.
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