Southern Charm star Kathryn Dennis took to Twitter on Tuesday to apologize and explain her reason for using a monkey emoji in messages with a black radio host. The redhead reality star thanked fans for sticking by her and teaching her in a string of tweets.
For the fans that I have offended, I’m sorry. For the fans that have supported me, thank you. ??????
— Kathryn C. Dennis (@KathrynDennis) June 1, 2020
This was the second apology from the star for messages sent between her and Mika Gadsden, a black political activist and radio host. As The Inquisitr previously reported, the controversy began on May 10 when Mika took to Twitter to call out a friend of Kathryn’s, Katie Shields. The local boutique owner was organizing a pro-Trump boat parade with some friends.
Mika disagreed with the notion of the event and tweeted her opinions. What went on from there was a series of direct messages between Kathryn and Mika, some of which started as silly as Kathryn called Mika an “L7 Weeeeeenieeee.” Unfortunately, things quickly escalated.
“Why are you calling us white people, that is so racist,” Kathryn asked Mika in a message.
The Southern Charm star ended the note with a monkey emoji. Mika took offense to the emoji use and posted a screenshot of the messages to her social media accounts.
Kathryn offered her first apology via a tweet on May 11 where she explained that she “did not give it thought, and it was and is wrong.”
The new explanation offered a little more insight to Kathryn’s thoughts at the time.
“Honestly I never realized the monkey emoji was racist. Obviously I was wrong. I’m sorry. The conversation I had was distorted and completely taken out of context and now I’m being called all these things that I am not.”
Kathryn explained herself further, tweeting that she thought the monkey was “silly and awkward” because of the way it sat and said that she used it “all the time.” The mother of two said she wasn’t aware who she was writing to when she used the emoji. Kathryn claimed that she didn’t even know that she was writing to Mika. The message was from someone “anonymous,” and she wasn’t sure if the person was “boy/girl black/white.”
Along with the explanation, Kathryn tweeted that she had learned from the experience.
“I really appreciate people who correct me and teach me because without them I might have been repeating mistakes for a long time.”
Southern Charm was only days into filming the current season when production shut down due to the current pandemic. An official cast announcement hasn’t been made, although The Inquisitr recently reported that Kathryn’s co-star, Cameran Eubanks, would not be returning for Season 7.
