Johnny “Bananas” Devenanzio’s latest business venture hit a major snag last week after The Challenge star was accused of responding to tweet from Taylor Hale— the first Black woman to win Big Brother— with a gorilla emoji.
The questionable tweet from Johnny came after Taylor mentioned on X that the “yellow fruit man” (aka Johnny Bananas) had taken to the social media platform earlier in the day claiming that he was “looking for engagement.” In response, Johnny’s account replied to Taylor with a series of bananas emojis, followed by a gorilla emoji– a reply that soon had fans and fellow reality TV stars calling out Johnny for what appeared to be a racist tweet. The tweet was quickly deleted but the fallout continued for days.
How ignorant is he (someone screenshot tweet before he deleted)?
byu/diamondsourforever inMtvChallenge
After a week of speculation, Johnny shared his side of the story with Variety, telling the outlet that the controversial tweet was not sent by him, but rather Step Up Social, a marketing and content creation agency that he had allowed to take over his social media accounts to promote the $BANANAS cryptocurrency he was launching. While Johnny confirmed that he and the company “went back and forth” for a few days putting tweets together– that he approved before they were posted to his personal accounts– the company went on to also post responses from his account, unbeknownst to him.
“What I did not approve was them to go rogue and start responding to others,” he claims.
Johnny also explained to the outlet that in the “crypto world,” certain emojis mean different things, including the gorilla and ape emojis, suggesting that this was the reason the company had used the emoji in the first place.
“ … They symbolize strength, symbolize going in full force,” he said. “Basically, they made the ill-advised move to tweet one of these emojis at Taylor. So, immediate action was taken.”
Johnny insisted that he does not “take this situation lightly at all,” noting that he reached out to Taylor as soon as he was made aware of what had happened.
“ … my main concern was making sure that she had as much clarity as she could have … ,” he said. “I wanted to make sure she knew the truth.”
Taylor confirmed to the outlet that Johnny reached out to her on February 5 to explain the situation.
“I assured him I did not believe the intent of the tweet to be racist,” she said.
Taylor, who has since posted her full Variety statement to X, also told Johnny that she needed him to “publicly post that it was a misstep,” which is something the two reportedly discussed during their conversation last week.
“This would absolve him of being accused of racism, and help remove the influx of messages from his fandom saying I look like a manly gorilla– a racist trope against Black women,” she said, confirming to the outlet that she had received “actual racist messages” from people claiming to be Johnny’s fans.
“I do not hold Johnny responsible for the insensitive tweet, but I do hold him responsible for the response,” she said. “Public disrespect should be met with the most immediate public apology through the same medium. I believe Johnny and I can agree we’d like the narrative of racism to be put to rest, and for the temperature to be brought down on all sides.”
Step Up Social also reached out to Taylor with an email apologizing for the incident, admitting the “content was inappropriate” and insisting it “does not reflect the values of our agency or our client.”
“We deeply regret any harm this may have caused and are reviewing our internal processes to ensure this does not happen again and we are working closely with Johnny to address the situation and restore trust,” the statement read, in part.
As for Johnny, he said he is “strongly considering legal action” against Step Up Social as a result of the harm caused within the last week. On Monday, he posted a link to the Variety article on X, telling fans that while it doesn’t erase what happened, he “wanted to share some context and clarity on the situation.”
“Grateful to @TheTayMack and for those who took the time to understand,” he added.
This isn’t the first time a reality TV star has been accused of using an emoji with racist intent. As The Ashley previously told you, former Southern Charm star Kathryn Dennis came under fire in 2020 after it was revealed that she had used a monkey emoji while arguing with radio host Tamika Gadsen, who is Black, in a private message on Instagram.
After the conversation went viral, Kathryn issued an apology on social media, claiming she did not intend to offend anyone and insisting she was not racist. While Kathryn was not fired from ‘Southern Charm’ as a result of the incident, the South Carolina clothing store she was working for as a brand ambassador at the time issued a statement confirming that they were distancing themself from the Bravo star.
RELATED STORY: ‘The Challenge’ Star Nany Gonzalez Fires Back After Being Accused of Cheating on Ex Kaycee Clark with Castmate Melissa Reeves
(Photos: MTV; Instagram; Reddit; X; Bravo)
5 Responses
He is a horrible, vile excuse of a human being and always has been. I have not watched any season of The Challenge that he has participated in for many years, nor do I watch any TV show in which he appears. No way would I ever put money in this Neanderthal’s pocket.
They BOTH are petty as FK.
Johnny is generally a person that enjoys tormenting people and twisting things to get a reaction. It sounds kind of convenient that he is blaming this on a company. It also sounds like he is making excuses. It is horrible that this was done at all. There is absolutely no excuse whatsoever. Him trying to shift the blame and do damage control is making him look more culpable to me.
Did you read the article? It says the company took responsibility and confirmed they were the ones to send the response in question.
The company gets paid handsomely to take the blame, even if they didn’t make the post. I’m not so sure that message wasn’t posted by Bananas, since he’s known for antagonizing and doing whatever outrageous thing he needs to do to get a reaction. I guess we’ll never know.