Teen Mom OG newcomer Bristol Palin is shutting down accusations that she is homophobic and racist.
In Monday’s “Meet the Girls” MTV special, fans of the reality series were reintroduced to Palin, whose mom Sarah Palin ran for vice president alongside John McCain in the 2008 election, and Cheyenne Floyd, who appeared on The Challenge alongside the father of her child, Cory Wharton, before the two hooked up and she got pregnant.
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It isn’t the first time Bristol has appeared on reality TV, starring in Lifetime’s Life’s a Tripp in 2012. The show documented her life with son Tripp, now 9, whom she had with Levi Johnston at 16. It’s that show, in addition to her politics, that Palin blames for reports that she has a negative view of the LGBT community or people of color.
“There are so many stigmas attached with being a conservative, that it’s super easy for people to label me or my family as certain things and they’re just not true,” she said in Monday’s special. “I’m not homophobic. I’m not racist.”
Palin blames editing on the Lifetime show for one report that she had laughed off her son saying a homophobic slur. In the version of the scene that showed on TV, the bleeped word was subtitled as the slur, but when Bristol played the unedited scene on Monday’s special, the little boy was revealed to have said the F word of a four-letter variety.
“It doesn’t make it OK that he said a cuss word, but there’s a big difference between saying a cuss word and going after individuals,” she said. “Literally, I’m just pissed about it. I don’t care what you say about me, but I care what you say about Tripp.”
She said she didn’t think too much of it until being cast on Teen Mom, when the clip resurfaced.
“The biggest article was, ‘She’s homophobic, and she teaches her kids stuff like this, and that’s who you’re going to have on the show,’” she said. “All I can do is do my best and raise good productive kids, but I hope that watching the show, all these things are shown not true.”
Teen Mom OG returns for a new season Monday, Oct. 1 at 9 p.m. ET on MTV.
Photo credit: MTV
