Bananas Apologizes for Racially Insensitive Tweet on His Twitter Account

Johnny Bananas might be flying to Chile for a new season of The Challenge, but he’s also in the middle of doing damage control.

Last week, while promoting his scammy new cryptocurrency, Bananas was doing a lot to get clicks. He was sharing prank videos and posting questions on Twitter to drive engagement. In one instance, he stated The Challenge was a better show than Big Brother and Survivor.

This was mostly boring reality TV Twitter banter — the type of things fans debate often, but cast members seldom get involved with. However, some Big Brother cast members chimed in, including Big Brother 24 winner Taylor Hale.

Bananas ruffled Taylor’s feathers while talking about reality shows, so when Taylor called out Bananas for trying to promote his cryptocurrency, Bananas chimed back with emojis of bananas and a gorilla chasing it (Receipt 1).

Fans quickly took offense, as Taylor is a Black woman, and the gorilla has racist implications.

Bananas quickly deleted the tweet, but damage had been done. Fans were chatting about it, but it seemed like Bananas was trying to let the situation blow over.

Apparently Bananas was working to apologize behind the scenes, including calling Taylor (Receipts 2 + 3). Taylor stated she didn’t think the intent of the tweet was to be racist; she understood the gorilla emoji has a different meaning in the crypto world.

Initially, Johnny wanted Taylor to address the situation on her social media, but she insisted that he issue a statement first and she would amplify it.

Bananas didn’t make a public apology until today, but he did it through a Variety article. There, he insisted that content marketing company Step Up Social took over his social media accounts when the tweet was made to promote his cryptocurrency.

Step Up Social also apologized to Taylor last week for their role, but Bananas waited for an article to get made before expressing any condolences. When he did, he told Variety that he took the situation very seriously, regrets any offense the tweet caused, and wouldn’t want anyone to judge his character on this misstep.

Taylor expressed frustration with Bananas’ approach because he took the time to receive advice from friends and PR agencies. They seemed more concerned with protecting Bananas’ image, but her involvement in the situation seemed overlooked. As a result of the delayed response, Taylor received hateful messages online.

Perhaps one of the friends Bananas spoke to was Rachel Robinson, because she stated that the gorilla emoji was an oversight on Bananas’ part (Receipt 4). But, some fans seem to think her statement confirms Bananas was behind the offending tweet, not a PR agency.

Clearly, this tweet was an error on Bananas’ part, and he thanked Taylor for taking the time to understand. Apparently, it took him more time to actually understand that he should respond to this incident, leaving Taylor to fend for herself. Likely, this will be the end of the situation, because MTV swiftly used their PR powers to protect Bananas.