People have been talking about racism a lot lately, for obvious reasons.
In the celebrity gossip realm, some of this discussion has involved bringing up old incidences of racism from famous people.
And because of that, some of those famous people have been seeing some consequences for their words and actions.
Everybody saw the controversy with Bravo’s Vanderpump Rules, which saw four cast members fired just this month.
MTV, a network never known for being too selective as far as who it casts on reality shows, has had a rough few weeks too.
Dee Nguyen was fired from The Challenge and Taylor Selfridge, of The Challenge as well as Teen Mom, also got the chop.
Where will it stop? Has the carnage just begun at these networks?
Some people think MTV should get rid of some other Teen Mom stars as well, and Kailyn Lowry is high on that list.
Kailyn’s history of racism or at least racially insensitive comments has become a hot topic on the Internet these days.
And it looks like one of her co-stars and rivals, Briana DeJesus, has a thing or two to say about Lowry and her fate.
Let’s get into it, shall we?
Mortal Enemies
As Teen Mom 2 fans are keenly aware, Briana DeJesus and Kailyn Lowry have never gotten along, and there are a lot of reasons for that. But one of them in particular stands out.
This Guy
This friggin’ guy. Javi Marroquin dated Briana after he and Kailyn got divorced, and while Javi Marroquin dates a lot of people and/or cheats on them with randoms in his bathroom or Crossfit gym, Kailyn was especially upset about this one. Lowry thought both Marroquin and DeJesus were very disrespectful to her during all of this.
Ugh
It didn’t help that at one point, he was hooking up with both of them either at the same time or in a period of time so close together that if there wasn’t overlap technically, there certainly was emotionally.
Throwing Down
Kailyn and Briana nearly got into physical fights more than once, and they’ve exchanged plenty of insults through the years. These are not women who like to mince words, or pull punches … sometimes literally.
Hold Up Though
More on that in a bit. Right now, let’s switch gears real fast and talk about why people think Kailyn Lowry is racist and how that’s become a hot topic in June 2020.
Yikes
One big thing is a resurfaced clip from an old episode of Teen Mom 2 in which Kailyn complained about how Jo Rivera, the father of her first son Isaac, had their son’s hair cut.
Not Great
“When he goes over,” she told Jo, “you have him dress a certain way, you have him look a certain way, you have his hair cut a certain way, and that’s not who he is. I think you forget about the fact that he’s half-white and he’s half-Hispanic. Like, I feel like you dress him a stereotypical way, and I don’t like it. … You dress him like a thug.â€Â
Oh No
And there was a period in time a few years back where the MTV personality would apparently draw a brown stick figure in her photos and called it “Brown Bae.” When someone tweeted her about it, Kailyn actually said “I’m only down with the brown.”
Three For Three
Over the course of the past few years, she has also filed orders of protection against all three fathers of her children … who all happen to be men of color.
Hmm
We’re not sure what happened when she filed the one against Chris, and Javi’s happened after he broke into her home after they’d filed for divorce, but when she filed the order of protection against Jo, she admitted she did that to send him a message – this was when he first started dating Vee Torres, and they’d been struggling with co-parenting.
Yep
And hey, remember this?
Please Make it Stop
A much more recent (and completely unverified, to be clear) report claims that there are recordings of Kailyn assaulting Chris Lopez and calling him the N-word, which she has strongly denied.
Not Having It
Whether or not this is all true, or even mostly true, has never been clear. But it’s a pattern fans don’t like, and some of it has played out on the actual show. Given that fact, more than a few viewers have asked MTV to fire her. She’s gotten so much backlash that she’s deleted her entire Twitter account.
There It Is
And one of the people speaking out against her is none other than her longtime rival and co-star, Briana DeJesus herself.
Unbelievable
It started when Briana tweeted the clip of Kailyn telling Jo that he made Isaac look “like a thug.” Along with the video, she asked “Wtf did I just watch?”, which is a fair question.
Also Fair
Someone accused her of trying to get Kailyn fired, but Briana answered with “She won’t get fired. Mtv favors her too much.”
Facts
She’s not wrong. MTV obviously has an incredibly hard time firing main cast members, even when they do absolutely horrific things. Just look at Amber Portwood. She’s still around after an incident in which she allegedly attacked her husband with a machete while he was holding their infant son! Even when the network canned David Eason, Jenelle Evans and Farrah Abraham, it took a LONG time and a crazy number of wild incidents.
Going Off
Anyway, back to Lowry and whether she’s next on the chopping block – or should be. In a new statement, Briana is sharing more about how she feels about Kailyn and this new controversy.
Speaking Out
Briana began her statement to Celeb Magazine by saying “In the current state of things being brought to light regarding racism, it would be wrong of me to not bring up Kailyn Lowry’s racist behavior.â€Â
Right On
“I do not condone her labeling Hispanics as thuggish,” she said plainly, and as we said earlier, that happened on television for all to see. There are no rumors or disputes about it.
Boom
“In the same vein,” she continued, “she called my family ratchet. I do not for one second believe that was just a random dig.â€Â
More Information
In case you weren’t aware, Briana and her family are Puerto Rican, and while the word “ratchet” has been a popular insult for the past few years – Kail might say she simply meant to call them “trashy” without super negative or racist intent – there are definitely some racial undertones to it.
Some History
The “ratchet” remark happened when Kailyn and Briana had their first argument during a Teen Mom 2 reunion, right when Briana and Javi had first started talking.
Go Brittany
When the episode aired two years back, Briana’s sister, Brittany, even called Kailyn out for this, tweeting “When an ethnic person goes off it’s called being ghetto/ratchet … BUT LET A WHITE PERSON SAY OR DO SOME SH-T AND ITS NOT A PROBLEM.”
Back to Briana
Anyway, Briana said in this new statement that in regards to Kailyn’s words back then, “Every bone in my body believes that was racially motivated.”
Uh Oh
“Look at the footage of her claiming Javi Marroquin’s ‘darker skin’ would clash with certain colors,” she said — we can’t find the footage she’s referring to here, but it looks like this was something Kailyn said when she and Javi got married.
Well
“This is clearly an issue she’s had prior to me and perhaps that’s why she had an extra issue with me – aside from the fact that her ex was interested in me,” Briana continued.
More Points
DeJesus then added that “I also want to mention that when we had the fight on the reunion, my family was told to go home and Kail was allowed to stay.”
A Valid Argument?
Some people are arguing that Briana’s family was asked to leave because Brittany was the only one who actually got physical – she pulled Kailyn’s hair, but security was able to stop anyone else from getting to each other.
Nope
Still, Briana said that “I 100 percent believe this was racist as well. Kail, being white, has a privilege and it’s always seemed like the other moms are treated differently.”
Coming to Light
“We are in a culture where everything, finally, is coming to light. If we’re really going to let go of those who have exhibited racially motivated discriminatory behavior, I believe in my heart Kail should be included in that group,” she stated.
Making Amends?
Briana, 26, did say that “I would be willing to hear her out for an apology, of course, if it was sincere. I’ve always been open to conversing with her and moving forward, but she has consistently avoided me.”
Interesting
“Think about it – she and Jenelle had major issues, but she was fine to invite Jenelle on her podcast and send her her haircare,” she pointed out. “Me, being the only minority on the show, was left out. Coincidence? You tell me.â€Â
And There We Have It
The mother of two concluded her statement with this mic-dropper: “At the end of the day, if she stays on the show is not my call. But it would be irresponsible of me not to address this.â€Â
Something to Consider
After her statement released, some people argued that she’s just trying to get Kailyn fired because she doesn’t like her, not because she’s speaking out against racism. And surely it’s not a crazy idea personal dislike of Lowry may play some kind of factor. Remember, she’s fine with Jenelle Evans, even after all the awful things she and David Eason have said and done over the years.
Makes Sense
But it also doesn’t change some of Lowry’s actual comments, and it makes sense that she’s speaking out about Kailyn specifically because she does feel that she attacked her personally because of her race.
What Next?!
As of now, Kailyn hasn’t responded … but we can’t imagine it will be long, and can’t imagine it will be pretty, when she does.