Briana DeJesus Clarifies Her Mom’s Controversial Explicit ‘Teen Mom’ Moment After She’s Accused of Using Racial Slur

Briana DeJesus and mom Roxanne are speaking out after the latter was accused of saying a racial slur on a recent episode of Teen Mom 2 while referring to her daughter’s ex, Devoin Austin. In a conversation that was initially censored by MTV as per FCC guidelines, Briana and her mom were heated as they discussed the father of 9-year-old Nova leaking the reality star’s phone number, and Roxanne could be seen mouthing a word that was bleeped out, and many thought was a racial slur.

With fans calling for the mother-daughter duo to be fired, an uncensored version of the scene was shared on Teen Mom Shade Room Monday, showing that Roxanne called Austin a “d—,” not a racial slur. “Next they’ll be knocking on our f—ing door because this d— gave out your information,” Roxanne says in the scene.

The uncensored clip was soon officially released by MTV, and Briana and Roxanne told PEOPLE they were “really sad and really emotional” about the anger that came their way after the initial episode aired. “I didn’t say it, clearly it’s there. It doesn’t work out for anybody when you assume,” Roxanne said. “I love Devoin and will always have his back. I will always want the best for him. And it just breaks my heart to think that this happened.”

“My mom is not racist,” Briana added. “My mom did not use that word.” She continued that her mom was been Austin’s “biggest supporter” throughout all their co-parenting drama, so it was “so frustrating” to have people thinking she would say something horrible like that. “We’re on this journey together,” chimed in Roxanne. “Some way, somehow, we have to make it work for Nova. This doesn’t affect me or Briana as much as it will affect Nova. I just need him to relax, calm down, and it’ll all work out in the end.”

While this has been a difficult past season for Austin and Briana, who have gone back and forth about everything from child support to how Nova wears her hair, Roxanne said she tries to look at the big picture and come together as a family. “I always work on a relationship with him — no matter how disappointed or angry or hurt I am, Devoin and Nova’s relationship, to me, is priority number one,” she added. “It’s not about us, it’s about Nova, the biracial child. She knows about both races, she loves both sides of the family, and we won’t let anything change that.”