The Challenges Jordan Wiseley, Nia Moore Talk 2013 Racial Dispute
Looking back and moving forward. In the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement, as well as MTV firing multiple stars from their reality shows due to past racially charged comments, The Challenge stars Jordan Wiseley and Nia Moore opened up about their past dispute.
On The Real World: Portland, roommates Wiseley, 29, and Moore, 31, spent weeks fighting until it boiled over during one episode, in which he used the N-word and began making monkey sounds at her.
In recent weeks, clips of the scenes have resurfaced on Twitter, causing Moore to ask Wiseley to speak with him on Instagram Live. The pair, who have since become close friends, recounted their actions in a chat posted on Thursday, June 18.
“I was using the N-word toward you and you used it back at me,” Moore explained. “Even then I didn’t feel like it was coming from a racial/racist place. As the argument progressed, he started mimicking a monkey. Even then I didn’t attach it to a racist gesture, I just wanted to kick his ass because we were arguing about something stupid.”
Their costar Marlon Williams confronted Wiseley the next morning. Although she didn’t feel that Wiseley was racially offensive, she let him “get heat” because she was still angry at him.
“What we both did on both parts was tacky, distasteful, and immature, but I just wanted to say — I can only give people my perspective,” she continued. “I just felt like it wasn’t [racist]. Even the way that you said the N-word, I knew it didn’t come from that place.”
She also pointed out that the morning after, he called his dad and told him what happened, something she didn’t know about until the clip aired on the show.
“You could just see on your face, just disappointment as you explained him the situation. You weren’t looking for an out. You were just talking to your father about what had transpired,” the Georgia native explained. “I thought it was cute, because your dad, in his Oklahoma accent was like, ‘Hey man, you f—ked up. You have to hold yourself accountable for that. You can not go there. Even if she said it to you, you can not say it under any circumstances.’”
Wiseley then added that “this is not an excuse,” and he wanted to bring up the situation because of the impact the conversation has and because Wiseley has held himself accountable.
“I totally understand I offended people. I cannot take it back,” the three-time Challenge winner said. “It was not coming from a place of hate. If you look at my past, we were a foster family who brought in kids of all colors.”
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He continued, “The most frustrating part about watching these clips gets circulated is they’re just clips, and these trolls are trying to push this crap when the real lesson should be right here. How do we grow from this? How do we take people who learn from their mistakes and teach them to fight for the cause? Listen and show up. As a young man, I was not able to listen. I wasn’t able to show up for myself. There was so much pain in here and after getting close to you I knew how much pain you had. Now we look back at this situation, how do we learn? What can we take from it?”
This month, MTV cut ties with The Challenge‘s Dee Nguyen, Teen Mom OG‘s Taylor Selfridge and Siesta Key‘s Alex Kompothecras following past racially charged comments resurfacing.
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