Mackenzie McKee says she had some very dark days after she made a racially insensitive statement on Facebook about Vice President Kamala Harris. The comment contributed to her being let go from her job on Teen Mom OG and sent her life into a downward spiral.
“It was hell for two years,” Mackenzie said during a recent interview with the Sarasota SpeaX podcast. “My business [Body By Mac] went under. Every day was emails and messages like, ‘I can’t believe I prayed for your mom. She probably taught you this, I’m so glad she’s dead. You need to be cancelled.'”
As The Ashley reported at the time, Mackenzie made a statement in January 2021 on her private Facebook page about Vice President Kamala Harris.
“It blows my mind that out of all the amazing colored women in this world, that is the one who is making history,” she wrote.
Once word got around The Interwebs that Mackenzie had used the term “colored,” Mackenzie was criticized harshly. However, she later insisted— and still insists— that she was unaware that the term ‘colored’ was racist.
“I meant to say ‘amazing woman of color and I said ‘amazing colored woman,’” Mackenzie said in an Instagram Live video made a few months later.
In the same video, Mackenzie claimed the producers used her as a pawn to talk about racism, stating that they also required her to go through weeks of “training” for her apology.
“Basically to stay on the show, they wanted me to do a thing where a [Black Lives Matter] organization educates me,” Mackenzie said. “That was the agreement to stay on the show. For a month I was trained on how to say sorry.”
“I was on these phone calls [with BLM organizations], hours and hours. I’d film one thing, it wasn’t good enough,” she said. “I took three weeks off work to be trained on the right thing to say to fit MTV’s agenda.”
Despite all the training, Mackenzie was let go from ‘Teen Mom OG.’ (Technically, she was never informed that she was “fired”; she was simply not called to film again.)
In her interview with the Sarasota SpeaX podcast, though, Mackenzie said that losing her job on MTV was only a small part of what she dealt with after the incident.
“It was really rough….it was like two years, everyday. Even my husband at the time [Josh McKee] was like, ‘No one likes you. MTV hates you.’ I was going through a lot there…when I say it was bad, it was very, very, very, very bad,” Mackenzie said.
During the same time, Josh and Mackenzie split and Mack was having money problems.
“I was like a walking shell,” she said. “I was like, ‘MTV hates me, the Internet hates me, my business is going under and [Josh] left…my house was in foreclosure.”
Things got so bad financially that Mackenzie claimed she had to rely on charity for food.
“Churches were helping feed me. I’ve never been in this situation and Josh is just M.I.A. No one knows where he is. I chose to leave him and he chose to leave [Florida] but [I was getting] no help [from him financially],” she said. “It’s just me and my kids.”
Mackenzie said she eventually apologized publicly for her offensive statement in the way she originally wanted to.
“I made the mistake, so I’m gonna own it,” she said. “I just came out and said, ‘I am so sorry. I messed up. I messed up really bad. I said something I shouldn’t have said and it’s no one’s fault but mine but here I am. You can love me or hate me. I messed up.’
“I just like, restarted,” she added.
Mackenzie— who now lives in Florida with her three kids— said that, despite what went down with MTV, she’s still willing to open her life again to TV.
“I do miss sharing my story. Now I can be who I am and I can be more open and I’m not living in this lie, so I can share more authentically,” she said, adding that her fans will be able to watch her somewhere soon.
“So there is things coming up where I will be able to share my life and everything that is happening,” she said.
You can watch Mackenzie’s full interview below.
(Photos: MTV)
Colored women is offensive? Wtheck. I am not white and this did not offend me lol. People really need to stop reaching.
Omg people grow up. Doesn’t matter what you think of her as a person, her comment was not racist. She accidentally used the wrong term, there’s no need to crucify her. Imagine if those hours of mtv and blm “educating” her was spent on something worthwhile??? Imagine what that money & resources could have been put towards instead.
I think you should be allowed to criticize public figures which would, by definition, include Mackenzie.
I don’t think she needed weeks and weeks of reprogramming, forget that mess. I wouldn’t have done it. And I’m a “person of color” myself.
Cheyanne has said comments referring to hating white babies, wanting to hurt them and hating white people, before mtv even hired her. It’s completely swept under the rug and ignored. It’s madness
Funny thing is that she openly dated white men on “Are you the one” and both of her baby daddies are half white.
Give Mackenzie a break, she lost her husband to those “buckle bunnies”.
BLM all they can do us riot and desteoy. So glad i live far away from the usa, where this is not a subject. Some black people are offened about every little thing. What the f…is going on in the usa.
So in this specific case with Mackenzie I do feel like her comment was out of ignorance and not racism. I think she got way more hate than was deserved.
To my knowledge BLM was originally to protest systemic racism, though some or those protests did turn into riots. In the US it is common for black people to be treated more harshly by law enforcement and by the justice system. There is also a pay gap, white people make more money than black people doing the same jobs. Which in turn make housing and other necessities less accessible. Poor people are more likely to commit crimes and the US is systemically making sure that black people stay poor and then more harshly punishing them for those crimes. Unfortunately racism is alive and well here. I don’t know what country you are from but I do hope it is different there and that everyone is treated equally.
Even when she victimizes other people, she’s still the perpetual victim.
Lmao victimized? Jesus people, grow up!
Rule number 1 when woke has a fit is to never apologize.Come on, have a spine!
Colored or of colour whatever. 1984 will never go away as long as we comply.
Mackenzie always the victim.
Please stop sharing your life with us! We’re really not interested!
There is a difference between making a blatant racist comment and making an ignorant comment. This obviously was an ignorant comment. She simply said she doesn’t care for Kamala Harris and there are plenty of women of color that would’ve made a better vice president. She accidently used the wrong term for “people of color” but there obviously was no malicious intent behind it. The treatment Mackenzie received was disgusting. What kind of monster tells someone that they are happy their mother is dead? Call me crazy but those kinds of people are in no position to point the finger at shame anyone for bad things that they’ve done or said. The cancel mob are truly some of the worst people.
She was held accountable for her ignorance. She is from the south and knows that word is offensive. More importantly, she typed what she usually says…that word is not just in your vocabulary if you don’t use it. She was not ignorant, she just forgot to be check her racism or bias before making a public comment.
Calling accountability “cancel culture” is a sign of indifference and bias in and of itself, not to mention waving your privilege flag.
I agree. It was ignorant comment. I think it’s messed up to say those things about her deceased mom. Wtf is wrong with people? The same people who also probably send death threats to others, which is cruel and insane.
The fact Mac and her kids had to rely on charity for food and the fact Josh sent no monetary support for his own kids tells you everything.
I don’t have to like Mac to want her to be able to feed her kids and be okay physically and mentally.
Blows my mind how this girl seemed to get more hate than Amber. Or Jenelle. Rhine. Cheyenne.
Amber, Cheyenne, and Jenelle are all much more hated than McKee is.
Did any of these people get fired from MTV though and have to rely on charity for food? $400k a year.
Mac could have gotten another job though, to be fair. Her kids are all school age.
I don’t think she meant anything racist with her comment, I think she was just ignorant. Cheyenne on the other hand, wished d3ath upon yt babies and MTV kept her. MTV doesn’t give a crap about racism. They used Mackenzie as a scapegoat the same way they are now using Ashley
I really don’t think she meant any harm. She was ignorant, uneducated, and now knows better. Hopefully.