MTV has fired cast member Dee Nguyen of the reality show "The Challenge" following a series of tweets she posted over the weekend that were considered insensitive to the black community.
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.
— challengemtv (@ChallengeMTV) June 9, 2020
Dee has come under criticism for posting a series of pictures on Instagram instead of participating in "Black Out Tuesday", as she had pledged to do. One user wrote, "Wake up! People are dying". Dee replied, "People die every f**king day. U don't know me or what I do. I suggest you wake the f**k up and get off social media".
She then turned to Twitter to say, "IDK why some of you think I'm anti-BLM. I've been saying that since the day I lost my virginity". The tweet was later deleted.
Bayleigh Dayton took to Twitter to shame her colleague, saying Dee's tweet was not supportive of the Black Lives Matter movement.
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 @deenguyenMTV pic.twitter.com/pAw4KQKy30
— Bayleigh Dayton (@BayleighDaily) June 7, 2020
Dee fired back, and the women exchanged a series of angry tweets before Dayton's husband, Swaggy C, stepped in to say that Dee was only posting about BLM "for clout" and called her a "clown". He went on to suggest that anything Dee does is only to drag her through another season of "The Challenge", and that she "didn't do one act of kindness until a camera was in [her] face".
WARNING: EXPLICIT LANGUAGE
Dee gon’ text me “hey make sure you tell Bayleigh to keep me blocked & you still talk bad about me. I’m thinking of storylines for season 36 😜”
— SWAGGY C (@SwaggyCTV) June 7, 2020
Everything is not for fucking clout and drama. The fuck. CLOWN.
I’m bout to air her whole shit out. Using BLM for clout.
Dee, at first, said she was a victim of the so-called "cancel culture" but later posted a couple of tweets apologising both for her words and for replies to Dayton and her husband, but the damage had apparently been done.
BLM to me every day. I’m trying to do the best I can with what is currently accessible to me.
— Dee Nguyen 🖤 (@deenguyenMTV) June 7, 2020
Netizens reacted to Dee's apology, saying they were not impressed, while another colleague on the show, Tula “Big T” Fazakerle, said that Dee's tweets prompted her to share her own unpleasant experience with her co-worker.
"She said she was "blacker" than me because I didn’t know the name of a musician and because she hadn't seen me fight and be aggressive", Fazakerle posted on Instagram. "I felt like she was trying to make me fit her idea of a "stereotype" ..after seeing her tweets it just infuriated me even more and felt like I should be honest about my experience."
Wes Bergmann, who films the "Friends and Benefits" show, where Dee also starred, kicked her out of the Patreon house following the insensitive tweets, and later also took to Twitter to comment on her firing from the show.
— Wes Bergmann (@WestonBergmann) June 9, 2020
