YouTuber and MTV starlet Tana Mongeau has responded to accusations of racist behavior and microaggressions toward an ex-member of her now-defunct collaborative channel, “Trash.”
YouTuber Kahlen Barry (now an independent creator in his own right with an audience of over 172k subscribers), was once a part of Mongeau’s collaborative channel, where multiple creators uploaded videos of varying subject matter.
Now, Barry has come forward with allegations against Mongeau, which sparked after he published a Tweet at the beginning of the 2020 Black Lives Matter movement.
In his post, Barry took issue with Mongeau’s use of racial slurs in the past and asked that she use her platform to take a stand for the BLM initiative.
“You made me feel, as a black person, invalidated, and I never felt as a friend I could tell you about the things that hurt me without it being spun back onto me,” Kahlen wrote.
The YouTuber then came forward with a video on June 15 detailing a slew of microaggressions and “gaslighting” behavior from both Mongeau and her manager, Jordan after confronting her behavior during iDubbz’s infamous “say cheese” moment, claiming they framed him as the “angry Black person” and even spread rumors in the industry that he had been in trouble with law enforcement.
Nearly a week later, Mongeau has responded to Kahlen’s claims in a lengthy Twitter thread, apologizing to the YouTuber and explaining she had been “silent” on the subject to “trying to find the words to address this.”
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She went on to apologize to Barry directly, calling her actions “disgusting” and “unacceptable” and promising fans that she will take time to both educate herself and hold herself accountable for her behavior.
first, I’d like to apologize to Kahlen directly for my silence, there are no excuses, I should have talked and listened to you. instead, I’ve been trying to find the words to address this and apologize in a way that that won’t further hurt anyone, and educate myself on how to
— Tana Mongeau (@tanamongeau) June 22, 2020
“I want to apologize directly to Kahlen Barry for anything I ever did to make him feel that I was being micro-aggressive or racist,” she stated. “That is so far from who I am and [I] will spend a lifetime trying to show you that.”
Barry has since claimed he’s made attempts to speak with Mongeau privately, but has not received a reply at the time of writing.
she still hasn't responded to me. i've made attempts on dm and bts. i want to educate her but that apology was not sincere. i'm sorry. https://t.co/49OC6GQJTE
— Kahlen Barry (@KahlenBarry) June 22, 2020
Stay tuned to Dexerto for more as this story develops.
