What exactly does Mickey Rourke have to say or do before Celebrity Big Brother steps in? Start quoting conversion therapy manuals? Physically attack JoJo Siwa? Because apparently, repeatedly targeting her with disgusting lesbophobic abuse just isn’t enough for Big Brother to take real action.
Let’s not mince words here: Mickey Rourke’s behaviour in that house has been revolting. Not “old-school,” not “problematic,” not “controversial”. This is obvious and dangerous lesbophobic abuse broadcast in primetime.
First, there was the sickening comments that were tantamount to a corrective rape threat.
“If I stay longer than four days, you won’t be gay anymore.”
It is clear what he meant. He might have laughed it off and tried to be clever with it, but this was a grown man with a full understanding of what he was saying to a young woman. He was threatening corrective rape.
The other housemates laughed uncomfortably. JoJo tried to push back with good humour, and it was a familiar scene to many lesbians. We’ve all had moments where we try to push back on a man’s advances, laughing a little as we try to assert our boundaries, not because he said anything funny, but because we know that being any firmer could lead to violence.
Then, as if that wasn’t grotesque enough, came the moment he said, outright, that he wanted to vote JoJo out because she’s a lesbian. Not because of gameplay. Not because of any clash of personalities. Just because she’s a lesbian existing confidently in front of him.
As the uncomfortable scene in the garden continued, Rourke yelled “I need a fag!” and then pointed at JoJo, quipping “I’m not talking to you.” Except he was.
JoJo was reduced to tears by the incident, being comforted by Love Island star Chris Hughes, who attempted to stand up to Rourke for his comments, but Rourke seemed unable to apologise sincerely, blaming his comments on a misunderstanding or his “short fuse”.
He claimed that he didn’t mean anything by it, but how can a person openly say that they will change a person’s sexuality by force and not mean anything by it?
This isn’t banter. This isn’t “just his generation.” This is targeted lesbophobia, plain and simple.
And what is Big Brother doing? Sitting on their hands? Polishing the eviction chair while Mickey Rourke sneers and smirks his way through another thinly veiled slur? Because leaving him in that house sends a clear message: abuse is fine, as long as it gets people talking.
But let’s be really clear about what we’re watching here. JoJo Siwa, a young, openly lesbian woman is being harassed on national television by a man old enough to know better, who thinks her sexuality is either a punchline or a problem to be erased.
Rourke has received a warning from the Big Brother producers, but JoJo Siwa is still left in a house with a man who stated that he would turn her straight.
If the tables were turned and JoJo harassed another female housemate in this way, “joking” about raping her, using slurs to refer to her and promising to vote her out for having an identity that she didn’t like, the press, producers and probably even the other housemates would be rightly gunning for JoJo Siwa. She would be shunned and cancelled quicker than she could even get the words out, because in the rare instances of a lesbian crossing boundaries, it is recognised right away, but when a straight man does it to a lesbian, it’s suddenly banter, or a product of his age.
Even the housemates that stood up for JoJo felt the need to be apologetic for Rourke, with comments about “him being from another planet”, or being from a certain generation, probably for the same reason JoJo tried to laugh things off at first. They know what happens when you try to stand between a lesbophobe and their target. So, as always, it’s just a slap on the wrist from everyone with the power to stop the situation, while JoJo has to stay locked in the house with a lesbophobe, watching as the world trips over itself to protect him, and fail her.
Attitudes towards lesbians may have changed in Rourke’s lifetime, but if he refuses to grow and allow lesbians to live alongside him without threats of sexual violence, harassment and abuse, then ITV, who airs Big Brother has a responsibility to remove him from the living space.
It isn’t hard to live your life without threatening corrective rape or using slurs. People do it every day, in fact, so why is Mickey Rourke being treated like a child who doesn’t know any better?
If Celebrity Big Brother has any integrity left, Mickey Rourke should be removed from the house immediately. Not given a slap on the wrist. Not given a redemption arc. Not given another chance to smirk down the camera lens like he’s the victim. Removed.
Lesbian viewers watching at home don’t need to see yet another man treat us like we’re something to correct, silence, or belittle. We’ve seen enough of that in real life, thanks.
Yes, we know, we are the worst women imaginable because we have committed the crime of being unavailable to men, but let’s be serious for a second. A young lesbian woman is currently locked in a house with a man who threatened corrective rape to her on camera. If he wasn’t afraid to say it, why should we believe he won’t do it? Why is JoJo’s safety an afterthought to views and ad clicks?
Mickey Rourke’s lesbophobia isn’t entertainment. It’s abuse. And the fact that he’s still in that house is an absolute disgrace.
Get him out.
Get him out tonight.
CC x x
Countess Casper is a regular columnist for Restless Violets Magazine. Through insightful commentary and personal anecdotes, she shares her perspective and invites thoughtful discussion on the day to day lives of lesbians.
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