GinaMarie Zimmerman Accused of Making Racist Remarks on 'Big Brother' (VIDEO)
Current "Big Brother" contestant GinaMarie Zimmerman has been fired from her permanent position as a pageant coordinator after she was caught on camera making racist remarks.
East Coast USA Pageant, Inc. has formally cut ties with GinaMarie Zimmerman. The pageant worker was one of three contestants who were caught making offensive remarks during live "Big Brother" footage that was released on the Internet. In the footage Zimmerman can be heard referring to welfare as "n----- insurance."
Zimmerman worked as pageant coordinator for East Coast USA for five years, but during that time pageant officials insisted that they had never heard Zimmerman make any offensive remarks.
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"We have never known this side of GinaMarie or have ever witnessed such acts of racism in the past," the pageant told TMZ. "We are actually thankful that this show let us see GinaMarie for who she truly is. We would never want her to be a role model to our future contestants."
The pageant workers also noted that they were disappointed in Zimmerman's behavior.
"In a business where we are surrounded by beauty every day we are saddened to see something so ugly come from someone we put on a very high pedestal," they added.
Zimmerman is not the only one in the hot seat, however. Two other contestants were also caught making offensive remarks. Aaryn Gries, a model for the Zephyr Talent, was also released from her company after she referred to one of the gay contestants on the shows as a "queer." She also told an Asian contestant to "shut up and go make some rice."
"We certainly find the statements made by Aaryn on the live Internet feed to be offensive. Upon much consideration, we have decided to release Aaryn from her contract with Zephyr Talent," the company said in a statement.
CBS also remarked that they were offended by a number of remarks made by the contestants.
