Teen Mom 2 star David Eason fired after ‘homophobic’ Twitter rant comparing LGBT people to fleas
(Getty)
MTV has reportedly fired Teen Mom 2 star David Eason after he allegedly compared gay and transgender people to fleas in a bizarre Twitter rant.
Star of hit MTV show Teen Mom 2 David Eason has sparked controversy after comments he made which included Eason stating that he would not ‘teach his children’ to be LGBT.
In a statement to PEOPLE, MTV said that the comments did not represent the network and that he had been fired from the show.
The network said: “David Eason’s personal comments do not reflect the views of MTV.
“With six weeks left of production on Teen Mom 2, effective immediately, we are ending our relationship with him.”
(Photo: @easondavid88 / Instagram)
Teen Mom 2 includes Eason, his wife Jenelle Evans and their four children following Evans’ television debut in an earlier season of MTV show 16 and Pregnant.
The rant was reportedly started over a discussion of gun control and laws regarding weapons in American schools but then began to hit out at LGBT people and parents.
Eason’s Twitter account has been deactivated since the tweets were allegedly written, however several users of the social media site have posted screenshots that they attribute to him.
One of the many Twitter users posting screenshots allegedly from Eason (Photo @imfkinrankin / Twitter)
The argument began on Twitter on February 19, In the wake of the Parkland school shooting in Florida last week where 17 people were killed.
One of the survivors of the shooting criticised pro-gun politicians for their inaction on gun control, saying that those politicians would ‘march for hours over a rainbow wedding cake’ whilst failing to responsibly legislate guns.
David Eason had reportedly tweeted a news story about a proposed bill to allow people to carry concealed weapons in schools in South Carolina.
A follower confronted him on his views about gun control, stating that educating people and being an involved parent would be a better solution to gun violence than concealed carry.
(Photo: @easondavid88 / Instagram)
Eason then hit back at the perceived criticism of his parenting methods by lashing out at LGBT parents.
He allegedly wrote: “And just what makes you think you have the right to tell me how to be a parent. Because you think you know me?
“LMAO, why don’t you tell the homo and transgender parents to start teaching their kids better morals. Oh, I forgot, that’s supposed to be normal.”
(Photo: @imfkinrankin/Twitter)
Eason was immediately criticised for this tweet and his suggestion that LGBT people are automatically bad parents.
One Twitter user asked David Eason to expand on his comments: “Are you going to teach your children to hate gay and transgender people?”
Eason then allegedly compared gay and transgender people to the fleas on dogs and said that he would teach his children not to be LGBT or know any LGBT people.
Eason reportedly said: “I’m going to teach them not to associate with them or be that way… if you lay down with dogs you get up with fleas.”
(Photo: @imfkinrankin/ Twitter)
Since the dates on these alleged screencaps, both Eason and Evans have deactivated their Twitter accounts.
Related: MTV makes its Video Music Awards completely gender-neutral
In a statement to TMZ, Evans apologised on behalf of her husband and said he did not expect such a significant backlash.
Jenelle Evans said: “David didn’t understand how offensive people would get or how Twitter even works. Now that he realizes his voice is very strong within media/tabloids he has deactivated his account.
“He agrees he will keep his comments to himself from now on.”
(Photo: @easondavid88 / Instagram)
She continued: “David doesn’t hate people from the LGBT community. My old manager was gay and used to be one of me and David’s close friends.
“We are sorry for the comments that were made.”
A petition on site change.org calling for MTV to remove David Eason and Jenelle Evans from Teen Mom 2 gained over 8000 signatures.
The petition itself references the ‘homophobic’ tweets as well as a post by Evans where she posed with an assault rifle the day after the Parkland school shooting.
(Photo: Change.org)
The petition reads: “David went on a homophobic Twitter rant where he called gay & transgender people an “abomination” and said that he would teach his children to not associate with gay people or to be gay themselves.”
“This level of ignorance and lack of compassion should not be tolerated.”
