MTV released in a statement last night announcing they will no longer be working with reality star Dee Nguyen. This news comes after she posted racist and insensitive tweets over the weekend.
The firing comes days after constant backlash from viewers of the popular show The Challenge. These fans expressed their disgust and hurt feelings by her offensive and insensitive remarks. They were equally as disgusted to see her personally attacking fellow cast mates in a series of tweets and Instagram posts over the span of two days.
After users accused her of sharing weak Black Lives Matter posts that seemed insincere, Dee Nguyen defended herself by sharing that she lost her virginity to a Black man.
Then after defending herself to users who caught on to her remark, she posted this image the next day.
And then continued to diminish the Black Lives Matter movement and racism all together on social media to people who were attacking her for her insensitive tweets.
In addition to her racist tweets, she also attacked fellow co-stars Baileigh and SwaggyC. The two shared their outrage and shared lengthy social media posts that exposed other racists things Nguyen said and did.
Dee has since apologized for her actions and decided to take a break from social media before her firing. As of late, she has not reacted to the news from MTV.
At the time, the Australian remained in Kansas City with fellow Challenge vet Wes Bergman due to COVID-19 flight restrictions. Fans were quick to reach out to Wes, who had a close friendship with her. Almost immediately, the former reality TV villain updated fans on the situation.
The star first got her start on reality shows on MTV for MTV Australia and on MTV UK. She infamously appeared on one season of the Jersey Shore spin-off Geordie Shore. After MTV selected Nguyen for season 31 of The Challenge, she became close friends and alliances with Wes and won last season.
This season, Dee Nguyen earned a lot of camera time due to her strategy, love triangle involvement, and manipulative social game. So the fact that MTV just cut ties with a huge face to their brand as of current is huge.
A lot of The Challenge cast mates from past and present are now reacting to the news of Dee’s firing.
The cast even voiced their disgust as the situation happened and reminded their fans that they found Nguyen’s behavior truly unacceptable. Some even went so far as to contact their producers and seek further action to lead by example.
The Challenge has been one of the biggest shows to air on MTV. The series spanned over 35 seasons in almost 20 years. Their formula of having a reoccurring cycle of stars is one of the many reasons the show remained successful. So to deal with this large of a scandal could be very hurtful to their ratings for future seasons.
Especially because MTV encountered racism among their cast in past situations as well.
Many fans on social media are commenting on a situation that occurred five seasons ago when former fan favourite Camilla verbally attacked her fellow cast mate Leroy. In an aggressive state, Camilla punched Leroy and screamed racial insults while security escorted her off the property. MTV eventually kicked her off the show.
Although the network did air the shocking footage, they used it as an educational tool so that viewers could see that MTV does not tolerate racism. It also showed one of the series most heartwarming memories when Leroy spoke to his cast mates about how he was feeling and educated them on the other common issues Black people face.
However, a lot of fans are calling MTV out for hypocrisy in regards to how they’ve handled these sort of situations in the past.
Following her time on MTV’s The Challenge, the network cast Camilla on Champs vs Stars immediately. But they soon sent her home for physically assaulting a member of production and stealing a golf cart while drunk. Many fans find it sad that she finally left MTV since she physically assaulted a crew member, not because she’s racist.
Viewers are also voicing a disappointment in the network for also re-casting toxic “bullies” every season and not holding the male cast mates responsible for their actions. There are a handful of examples to be used, especially in their manipulative ways.
As an example, MTV has also continuously kept employing another Challenge favourite Jordan Wiseley after he made fun of disabled people and used them as a way to insult fellow cast mate Jemmye Carrol.
Even their own cast mate for another one of their shows called them out for it.
While I applaud MTV for their continuous efforts to help start powerful conversations and airing them as they occur live. But I am really hoping they learn from this situation and are able to stay true to the values they’ve been claiming to have. Enough is enough of tolerating inexcusable behavior, it’s time to put ratings aside and do the morale thing like they’ve done by doing this major move.
At the end of the day, what Nguyen said was absolutely wrong and disgusting.
I too felt that her initial “black lives matter” tweets were half assed and seemed like she was promoting this movement to make her seem cool. However, how she was downplaying racism and accusing other people of fabricating their stories for sympathy defeats the whole purpose of the movement.
I really liked Dee Nguyen on the show and thought she was a fresh face to the franchise that MTV desperately needed to keep the viewership high. But I can’t and will not tolerate someone so sickening and cruel being given such a huge platform from a powerful network. And I am appreciative that they made this move without the prompt of people telling them to fire her, but from seeing the outrage and backlash she highhandedly caused.
Feature Image via Instagram
