His removal came just days after the ITV reality show had launched, and the 72-year-old Hollywood actor had already sparked outrage for a series of anti-gay comments that he made about JoJo Siwa earlier in the week.
His exit aired in Sunday night’s episode of the show, and his behavior and language leading up to his departure were also pretty shocking, with multiple female housemates expressing how uncomfortable they felt around him.
At one point in the day, 24-year-old reality star Ella Rae Wise said: “Mickey, you’ve got to come with me,” and he replied: “Come in you?” The other housemates were noticeably horrified, with drag performer Danny Beard snapping: “Mickey, you can’t make them jokes!”
Later, as part of a pirate-themed task, Mickey squared up to Chris after Chris jokingly stepped out of line and stared at him when they playfully said there was “a rat among” them. Approaching Chris, Mickey asked: “You looking at me? Don’t eyeball me.”
As the others tried to defuse the situation by telling Mickey that it was just a joke, Mickey continued: “Don’t fucking eyeball me, what are you going to do? You cunt. Your ass will be right there in a second.”
Ella ended up breaking down in tears as she reflected on Mickey’s earlier comment to her, saying: “You can be just someone, but you also have to be mindful of what it can trigger in other people because it’s made me feel very uneasy.”
Actor Donna Preston and TV presenter Angelica Bell felt the same way, with Donna saying: “It’s made me quite sad, that. I don’t have any respect [for Mickey] at all, at all now,” and Angelica fought back tears as she said: “It does affect us all.”
Mickey was called to the Diary Room that evening, and when he was told about the “inappropriate sexual language” he’d used toward Ella, he had no idea what they were talking about, saying: “I’m not aware of that, but OK.”
But despite this, it has now been revealed that Mickey is pursuing legal action against Celebrity Big Brother, with his manager, Kimberly Hines, alleging in a statement to People that the show had disrespected Mickey by “publicly embarrassing him.” There is also unrest over the fact that Mickey isn’t receiving his full payout, with it being reported that he will only be paid 10% of his unverified £500,000 ($662k) fee.
BuzzFeed has contacted ITV for comment, but in the meantime, let me know your thoughts in the comments below.