14 DAY TRIAL // Former reality star, glamour model and adult actress Tila Tequila barely lasted one day on the new season of UK’s reality competition Celebrity Big Brother, before she got booted over a series of comments she made in December 2013. In a statement to People Magazine, she tries to explain and apologize for them.
Accompanied by a photo of Tila in mock-Nazi uniform, standing in front of concentration camp Auschwitz, the comments revolved around the idea that Adolf Hitler wasn’t so much a bad guy as he was misunderstood by those around him. Tila also called herself “Hitler reborn” or “Hitila,” which made it crystal clear that she was espousing all of Hitler’s beliefs.
Offensive comments, but not representative of who she is
Hours after Tila joined the Big Brother House, Twitter was abuzz with talk of how producers could bring a known Hitler sympathizer on the show and thus provide her with such a huge platform from which to make her views known.
Shortly afterwards, the outrage had reached such a scale that producers were forced to look into Tila’s history and eventually decide to boot her from the house. Obviously, the outrage was justified. They apologized to viewers and said they had no idea how this escaped their notice, and also ruled she would not be receiving her minimum appearance fee.
Said fee is of £113,000 ($173,923 / €155,566): definitely not pocket money. So Tila is now publicly asking for a second chance; you will find her statement in full below.
She says those comments were made at a very difficult time in her life, when she was struggling with severe depression and drug addiction. She’d just come off of a suicide attempt and was at her lowest point ever, so she wasn’t thinking straight.
Those things she said, though horrible, are in no way representative of who she is as a person, so she’s asking for a second chance to show the world that she’s changed.
Tila apologizes, will probably get her wish
“I am deeply sorry for my irresponsible, reckless, and selfish actions and I hope that everyone can forgive me for the pain that I may have caused. […] I am in no way, shape or form a racist nor antisemitic, and absolutely 100% not a Nazi supporter. It was a careless mistake I made in 2013 while suffering severe depression, drug addiction, and suicidal. That is not the woman I have grown up to be today, and the loving mother that I have become,” Tila says.
It’s very likely for producers to take her back, because this type of reality shows thrive on drama. Should this turn out to be the case, this begs the question: how much of Tila’s “sudden” boot from the House was staged?
It sounds improbable for producers not to have known about her past and her controversial Hitler remarks, so they probably got her knowing that this is exactly what would happen. In the end, if they take her back, everybody wins: they get their boost in ratings and Tila gets her chance to compete (and her appearance fee).