Luke Valentine's N-word fiasco was front and center in the latest installment of "Big Brother" ... and his fellow contestants struggled on how to deal with the fallout.
As you know, Valentine was booted from the CBS reality show this week after he used the racial slur during a discussion captured on a live feed with two white houseguests, Cory Wurtenberger and Hisam Goueli, and one black guest, Jared Fields.
The new episode starts off with Valentine heading to the Confession Room after he made the racially charged comment. The next day, contestant Reilly Smedley tells everyone Valentine has been tossed from the house because he violated the show's code of conduct by voicing the epithet.
The other contestants were stunned and started talking about it. Wurtenberger claimed the slur was directed at him in a casual way. Goueli said he didn't hear Valentine utter the word.
Fields chimed in, saying he didn't think it was appropriate to "have this as a family convo." He then stepped inside the confessional and explained it's hard to make people understand where he's coming from as the only Black man in the house. He went on to wish Valentine all the best.
During Thursday's episode, the show's host, Julie Chen Moonves, also addressed the drama, admitting it had been an emotional 24 hours for the Big Brother houseguests who learned of Valentine's exit the previous night.
Stay tuned. More drama to come for sure.
We covered the controversy on the latest episode of The TMZ Podcast, available on all podcast platforms.