Just days after being fired by MTV for posting a series of offensive tweets about the Black Lives Matter movement, The Challenge star Dee Nguyen has checked herself into a mental health facility.
A rep for Dee confirmed to E! News that the former Geordie Shore star is currently trying to decompress and cope with the events of the week. It’s also been confirmed that Dee has met with a legal team that is reviewing her situation and, according to Page Six, is considering taking legal action against MTV.
“Dee is currently in a mental health awareness spa resort in an undisclosed location with minders, coping with everything transpiring to the most recent events,” her rep said in the statement. “At this time she’s focusing on getting better for her well being and focusing on what’s next.”
Dee’s former ‘Challenge’ co-star Wes Bergmann hinted earlier this week that Dee was dealing with mental health issues following her firing. (You can read all about her firing here.) Wes— who had been working with Dee on his Patreon House project at the time she was axed— stated on Twitter that he helped get her into a facility.
“What Dee did was absurd, insensitive, & wrong. But most of all, it was ignorant.” Wes wrote on Twitter on Tuesday. “Dee was basically my daughter. I made the decision to ask her to leave in less than an hour. This public decision is what the world needed & deserved. But it doesn’t stop my grieving. I then preceded down a 24 hour road of finding a place for her to go. Her mental health by this time had deteriorated to a level where being in a hotel alone would have been the most dangerous option of all. An international flight out of Missouri in the early evening of a pandemic is non-existent. And none of the above keep her safe, heal or educated her.”
— Wes Bergmann (@WestonBergmann) June 9, 2020
“I required third party counseling to ensure I was making the safest & most legal move,” Wes continued. “It required speaking to a doctor, a hotline, a CEO, and a lawyer… Yesterday we successfully landed her in what I’m going to refer to as a mental health lodge. We have sourced daily psychotherapy sessions in an effort to essentially build her an outpatient care program for when she eventually leaves…”
Dee has not remained silent since MTV announced it had “severed ties” with her. She first issued an apology on Twitter, and later gave an apology statement to E! News, and posted an “official statement” to her Instagram page.
“I want to sincerely apologize to my fellow cast members, the production crew at Bunin-Murray and the staff at MTV for my choice of words and actions in the most recent events,” Dee told E! News. “What was stated wasn’t meant to be hurtful or discriminatory in any matter. It was a knee jerk of a reaction and it’s certainly not the way that I feel nor what I meant.
“I would love to take it back. But it is out there and to set to record straight,” she continued. “Racial intolerance is intolerable and unacceptable. Having had to deal with racism my entire life, ironically through all this, there is a warm feeling I have with the fact that humans are standing together to call out unacceptable comments and behaviors that in the past were rarely called on. Again, we are shown that you can be judged in a second on all social media platforms.”
In addition to issuing apologies, Dee has reportedly met with a legal team, including an Australian entertainment lawyer and Australian management company BLVK Management. A rep for the company told Page Six on Wednesday that they are reviewing the aspects of Dee’s firing and considering taking legal action.
“An Australian firm with renowned entertainment lawyer Matthew McCormick has been appointed to review the current situation under consultation by BLVK Management,” Dee’s Australian rep, Joseph Lamanna, told the site.
He added that the lawyer is going to “have a look at all aspects of the case” and “in due course, a further statement will be made.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/CAI04Rdg1iV/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
MTV has certainly made its statement on Dee getting the ax known. In addition to a tweet posted on Tuesday announcing they were cutting ties with her, a second statement about her firing was also aired during this week’s episode of ‘The Challenge.’
In addition, the network hacked up this week’s episode of ‘The Challenge’ to remove as much footage of Dee as possible. This did not go unnoticed by ‘Challenge’ fans, who called the network out on social media for cutting out major scenes and not addressing it.
If the episode running a half-hour shorter than usual (for people in the United States) wasn’t a dead giveaway, the strange flow, or lack thereof, during Wednesday’s episode made it pretty obvious that some major scenes had been cut. On Twitter, a fan account for the show listed some story lines that were edited out of Wednesday’s episode – all of which centered around Dee.
https://twitter.com/TheChallenge35_/status/1271082481278767105?s=20
Fans who viewed the episode in its entirety in Canada confirmed that the mentioned interactions went down, despite MTV announcing in its Twitter statement that it would “air out our season as planned.”
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.
— The Challenge (@TheChallenge) June 9, 2020
Many viewers took to Twitter to express their frustration about MTV hacking the episode, calling it “so confusing.”
“Everyone should spam [MTV] and make them air the original versions of #TheChallenge35,” one fan tweeted. “Their editing Dee out really affected the quality of last night’s episode and I don’t know how the rest is gonna go.”
“They edited the episode and I understand why but this is making the episode so choppy and lacking context,” another added.
Since Dee got the ax, ‘Challenge’ fans have been calling for the firing of other problematic cast members, including Johnny Bananas and Jordan Wisely, but at press time, MTV had not made any statements announcing additional ‘Challenge’ cast member firings.
12 Responses
“Having had to deal with racism my entire life” I love how she plays the race card to get her out of hot water.
Welcome to cancel culture.
We’ve have been in cancel culture for the last decade (LGBGTQ rights, Transgender rights, Me Too Movement, BLM). It about time though, long overdue.
So have we thrown the Constitution out too? I thought 1A should protect people from this cancel culture crap. I hope you all enjoy the culture you’re creating, because it’s going to come back & bite you right in the ass. No ones perfect, one day each of you will step in shit.
The first amendment protects you against the government, not a private company. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.
She had a breakdown after facing consequences for her own actions? Pathetic.
People always want to blame stupidity on mental illness. Just accept responsibility for what you said and do better.
first I just want to point out that I’m not black so correct me if I’m wrong but it seems like all the celebs and reality stars who are apologizing for their past behavior and are trying to better themselves are all being told it’s not good enough. No matter what they say they’re still bad. How are they supposed to apologize and move on if no one wants to hear it.
I hope this doesn’t sound like I’m arguing. I’m genuinely asking.
They go away with some dignity, knowing that they did apologize and do the right thing. They way they are fighting for their jobs means, they are still horrible people that they only apologized to keep the job.
Actions speak louder than words, and until proven otherwise, an apology is just that. Words. Words are easy, but actions show your heart.
You’re saying that a written statement and a few tears are supposed to prove that they’ve learned a hard lesson only hours after they had the audacity to be entitled little shits? Do you honestly expect someone to unlearn 20+ years of their covert racism or prejudice in 24 hours, because they made an apology? And a lot of the ones apologizing for tweets from way before, are only apologizing because they got caught. They would never ever own up to what they said had it not become public, so their apologies seem disingenuous as well (aside from Taylor Selfridge, that one really confuses me).
The best thing Dee, or Stassi, or anyone who has been caught and fired for making racial slurs, discriminating, joking about a serious issue, etc…is to prove their apology is genuine through action. It’s going to take time, and it’s not fair to ask someone to accept someone’s apology because you’re over it and they’re not.
People can apologize, but honestly at this point, the way this Dee girl feels entitled to get her job back by taking legal action, and Stassi only started crying because she doesn’t have a job and lost her endorsements (in 2017 she said HORRIBLE things about black people on her podcast, didn’t get in trouble for it, didn’t have to apologize, and now here she is today), it seems that they’re all only sorry they got caught and fired.
Girl,bye. You were big and bad when you were spewing hatred but now you wanna cry and have a breakdown? You said now own it and dip. This is MTV’s shows and Dee doesnt run nothing. Her lawyers know she doesnt have a case. She is a contract employee. Only big celebrities get multi year guarantee contacts. Her lawyer are just going to bill her $400 an hour to tell her that,