MTV is just one of several companies that have chosen to stand on the right side of history. They have shown support in the fight against systemic racism and oppression of Black Americans. This week, MTV has cut tides with two of its reality show stars, Dee Nguyen ( MTV’s The Challenge) and Taylor Selfridge (Teen Mom OG).
Dee, recently made a joke on Twitter about the BLM Movements saying; “Idk why some of u think I’m anti BLM. I’ve been saying that since the day I lost my virginity.”
This tweet came in response after receiving criticism for continuing to post pictures of herself after posting a black square for #BlackoutTuesday and saying “people die every f––ing day.”
Two of her Black cast mates confronted her for these disturbing comments. She was also confronted for trying to create controversy/storyline to be invited to partake in the next season of the challenge. Her ploy has completely back fired.
In Taylor’s case, the reality star faced backlash over her history of racially insensitive tweets in 2012. These tweets have been addressed by Taylor in previous seasons of Teen Mom OG.
“At the time, because I was younger, I wasn’t thinking it was anything negative. I thought ‘Oh, this is funny’ or something like that, but it’s not,” she added “That’s my biggest mistake… I just had to grow up, honestly.”
Such an error in judgment has been forgiven or overlooked in the past, but in today’s climate this behavior can no longer be tolerated. MTV has a history of reality stars making racially charged comments, i.e. Camila Nakagawa calling Leroy a racist slur or when Emily Schromm decided to mock her African American ex-boyfriend Ty by dressing up in his clothes and covering her face in Nutella… aka blackface.
So, MTV is moving quickly to distance themselves from Dee and Taylor is an obvious decision to make from a PR standpoint, but will this continue to be the norm for anyone making incentive comments wether racial or homophobic? I hope MTV and all companies who’ve stated that “we strongly condemn systemic racism” keep that same energy in the future.
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