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Julie Chen ‘offended’ by racist ‘Big Brother’ houseguests

“Big Brother” Houseguest Aaryn Gries, 22, a College Student from San Marcos, Texas (CBS)

“Big Brother” host Julie Chen has addressed the controversy surrounding several racist, homophobic and misogynistic comments made by the houseguests during the program’s 24-hour live feeds.

The comments were most prominently made by Aaryn Gries and GinaMarie Zimmerman.

“When I first found out that Aaryn, who is a 22-year-old girl, made anti-gay, anti-black and anti-Asian comments, I have to be honest, the Asian ones hit me the most,” Chen said during an airing of “The Talk.”

“I heard about her describing Asians as ‘squinty-eyed’ and ‘go make a bowl of rice,’ It stung. I took it personally.”

She added, “The year is 2013. I felt ignorant, there are still people in the country who feel and act that way? Yes, there [are]. It made me sad.”

“Personally, I was offended,” Chen also told TMZ last night. “I was offended by all the comments — the anti-gay, the anti-black, but especially the anti-Asian ones … for obvious reasons.”

Gries, who has been dropped by her modeling agency for her remarks, told fellow contestant Helen Kim to “go make rice,” and, “I probably look like a squinty Asian right now.”

She also said about openly gay contestant Andy Herren, “No one is going vote for whoever that queer is going to put up.”

Zimmerman, who has also been fired from her job as a pageant coordinator, said about African-American contestant Candice Stewart, “Candice is on the dark side because she’s already dark.”