Johnny Bananas taken to task by Hale over tweet
Fans of The Challenge and Big Brother were shocked to see the Gorilla Emoji included in Johnny’s response to a Taylor Hale tweet. A few weeks ago several new tweets appeared on The Challenge winner’s social media account X.
Johnny Bananas
One such tweet criticized other reality television shows like Big Brother and Survivor. Because these tweets were meant to drive up conversations concerning Banana’s new venture into the cryptocurrency world. He planned on launching a meme crypto coin.
After the original tweet, Taylor Hale posted her response under it. “That yellow fruit man pinned a tweet to his profile at 8 AM saying he was looking for engagement, and by 3 PM you gave him exactly what he asked for?”
“I don’t want to hear a single word if he somehow pops on every show in the conversation.”
Because that tweet received a response that included six bananas and a gorilla emoji, looking like it came from him. It should be noted; that the reply has since been taken down. Needless to say, that reply received several negative replies from fans of both shows.
Both reality television stars sat down with Variety to clear up any confusion the reply from his account created. Johnny has a marketing and content firm “Step Up That Social’ to handle his social media accounts. He claims the reply was sent out without his knowledge.
Telling Hale and Variety “I went back and forth with this company for a few days, putting tweets together that I approved being posted from my social media accounts. What I did not approve of was them going rogue and start responding to others.”
 Johnny Bananas Gives Further Explanation
He further explained that, in the crypto world, certain emojis are symbolic of different things. One is the gorilla another being the ape; they symbolize strength and going full force. And these have different meanings than those taken by fans.
Bananas reached out to Taylor right away, to give her clarity on what had happened. Taylor said, “I assured him I did not believe that the intent of the tweet to be racist.” In their joint statement given to Variety.
Hale advised him to make a public post explaining what took place over said tweet. Because she felt this would clear up any misconceptions about what had happened. “This would absolve him of being accused of racism,” she said.
Continuing ” And help remove the influx of messages from his fandom saying I looked like a manly gorilla – a racist troupe against black women.” She, also, stated she received racist comments from people claiming to be his fans.
The tweet in question happened on February 3rd and has been taken down. Because the week-long delay in a response from Johnny created more controversy; he explained as him wanting to get all the facts first. He, also, informed Variety that he was considering legal action against ‘Step Up Social’ for harm garnered by the tweet.
Both Reality Stars shared the Variety article on their social media accounts X. Hale is the winner of Big Brother 23 and hosts the Round Table for the show. Bananas was last on MTV’s The Challenge: Battle Of The Eras.
The Challenge: All Stars Rivals airs Wednesday 8/7 C on MTV. Big Brother is set to air on CBS in the summer of 2025. Both shows stream on Paramount Plus.
Photo Credits: YouTube and X
Quote excerpts: Monsters and Critics
