Owning up to his mistakes. The Challenge star Rogan O’Connor has broken his silence about his past tweets that have resurfaced amid the Black Lives Matter protests.
In a new podcast interview posted Monday, July 27, the Total Madness finalist, 30, apologized for two tweets he sent 10 years ago, in which he wrote about singing along to Drake‘s lyrics — and included the N-word.
“Ten years ago, [I was] quoting my favorite rapper Drake’s song, wrongfully using the N-word. At the same time, [I was] addressing how I shouldn’t have said it, saying that I accidentally said it aloud when I was singing along to my favorite rapper,” he explained on the “Challenge Mania” podcast. “It’s not something you should do, and that was what the tweet was about, saying I should never be using this word. So, I didn’t necessarily think it was racist but if it does offend anyone whatsoever. … I would never tweet something like that now. It was nearly 10 years ago. I am far from racist in any way whatsoever, so it really hurt me that people would tweet that.”
He went on to explain that the tweets in question — one quoting Drake and the other quoting a line from Pulp Fiction — were not meant to be racist.
“If I offended anyone, I massively apologize for that,” the War of the Worlds 2 winner continued, noting that he’s been participating in the Black Lives Matter movement.
“I think anyone that’s not using their platform to do right by this movement should do [that] — so much so that I’m actually bringing out a charity hoodie with [my clothing line] Bear Wear,” the Ex on the Beach alum said. All proceeds will be going to two charities — one being Black Curriculum, which teaches Black history in schools.
“[They] will get all the proceeds and a donation from myself and my company moving forward and hopefully bring more awareness to the movement,” O’Connor said. “I don’t want to make it a moment, I want to make it a movement.”
During War of the Worlds 2, O’Connor was in a relationship with Dee Nyguen, who MTV cut ties with in June following offensive comments she made about the Black Lives Matter movement and the death of George Floyd. The network also did its best to edit her out of season 35 of The Challenge.
“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 network posted on social media on June 9, sharing links to social justice resources. “We stand united against racism and urge you to join us in taking action to end racism, discrimination, and systemic violence.”
The Geordie Shore alum, 27, came under fire for a since-deleted tweet, that read, “Idk why some of u think I’m anti BLM. I’ve been saying that since the day I lost my virginity.” She also seemingly minimized the death of Floyd in police custody, replying to an Instagram comment about the incident with, “People die every f–king day.”
The reality star has since apologized, noting in a lengthy statement to Us Weekly that she believes “racial intolerance is intolerable and unacceptable” and wishes she could take her comments back.
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