MTV Severs All Ties with Dee Nguyen for Insensitive Comments about BLM

Fans of MTV’s The Challenge watched as the drama played out live on social media ending with an announcement that MTV was severing all ties with The Challenge cast member and last seasons winner, Dee Nguyen. This came following the reality stars insensitive comments about Black Lives Matter and the death of George Floyd.

Dee has been a polarizing character for the show for some time. Many fans were upset with her treatment of fan-favorite, Turbo, but many other were quick to rush to her defense. The Survivor Turkey star had responded in what many believed was his own defense of an attack by Dee’s friend, American Ninja Warrior star Natalie Duran, only to face another attack by. Opinions seemed to soften towards in her subsequent seasons with many rooting her on as an underdog. Fans even spoke out in her defense against the treatment of her by castmate and on again off again romantic interest, Ex on the Beach UK star Rogan O’Conner. This changed during the current season when Dee seemed to willingly take on the role of villain.

With the wave of public opinion already not on her side, her insensitive comments regarding Black Lives Matter were the final nails in the coffin with both fans and MTV. It all began when fans commented that her lack of support for the movement and her fellow castmates while instead choosing to post what they described as “thirst trap” content was tone-deaf to the current climate pointing out the issues were serious and people were dying. Instead of responding in an apologetic or empathetic manner, Dee responded on a since-deleted tweet captured by fellow Challenger Bayleigh Dayton by doubling down on her position by saying “people die every f*cking day.”

Even after the very negative reaction to her minimizing the death of George Floyd, she still didn’t change course. Her next tweet shocked many as it was both flippant and equally disrespectful as she said that she was supportive of BLM since she lost her virginity. Implying that having had sex with a person of color was her support. This tweet has also since been deleted. The response from her fans and cast members was immediate. As seen Bayleigh tweeted, “THIS IS NOT HOW YOU SUPPORT BLM. I’m disgusted and disappointed. THIS IS NOT A TREND. THIS IS LIFE OR DEATH FOR US. Posting for clout about the death of black people? Shame on you.” At the time Dee was living with fellow cast members on an online reality show developed by cast member, Wes Bergmann, called Friends and Benefits. On this show MTV stars were quarantining together and performing acts of charity.

By evening, Wes had tweeted a msg saying, “I just got back from work an hour ago. In that hour I’ve learned a lot of things. As a leader I have to make rough, nuanced, & swift decisions. The decision is to ask her to leave my home and city; effective immediately.” This was followed by an email sent to patrons of the show further explaining the situation. Roughly 4 hours later, the official twitter for MTV The Challenge tweeted out, “As a result of Dee Nguyen’s offensive comments on the Black Lives Matter movement, we have severed ties with her. Out of respect for our Challengers, we’ll air our season as planned. We strongly condemn systemic racism and stand with those raising their voices against injustice.”

On June 7th, Dee posted an apology to her followers regarding her insensitve remarks about the BLM movement. She wrote about how she was being “insensitve” and that she acted out of defensivness. She then said that there is “no excuse” for her tweets. She then exteneded an apology to castmates Bayleigh and Swaggy. Then in the comment she wrote, “BLM to me every day. I’m trying to do the best I can with what is currently accessible to me.” Check out the Twitter post below:

The drama doesn’t appear near over as fans and castmates are applauding the move but also calling for equal treatment to other cast members. In a famous incident Challenge vet Camilla Nakagawa used racist language towards a fellow castmate but was not let go from the show until the following season when she allegedly assaulted a crew member. This didn’t sit well with most fans then and still doesn’t now. It remains to be seen if MTV will be doing a thorough house cleaning or just changing the policies moving forward. If so the rumored, but not confirmed, consideration of casting of Big Brother‘s Jackson Michie, who faced his own issues surrounding racism on his season, would likely fail to materialize.

The Challenge: Total Madness airs Wednesdays at 8 pm EST on MTV.

Source: Dee Nguyen, Wes Bergmann, Bayleigh Dayton, MTV