Mackenzie McKee Was Welcomed Back to the 'Teen Mom' Franchise After a Quiet Exit

Mackenzie McKee said in an interview that her "business went under" after she stopped filming 'Teen Mom OG.'

Jamie Lerner - Author
By

Mar. 14 2024, Updated 6:57 a.m. ET

MTV’s stars always somehow find their way into controversy, and Teen Mom's own Mackenzie McKee always seemed to be in the thick of it before she left the franchise in 2022. Before she left, amid rumors of being fired, Mackenzie was under fire for some racially charged comments about Vice President Kamala Harris, and the MTV family seemed to only add fuel to the fire, leading many of us to wonder if Mackenzie was fired.

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Mackenzie was a major part of the entire Teen Mom franchise, having appeared in Teen Mom OG, Teen Mom 2, Teen Mom 3, and 16 and Pregnant. She’s been through it all and is now the young mother of three children. Although she apologized for her comments, it seems that the more she tried to make things right, the closer she got to being fired. She's now back for Teen Mom: Family Reunion, but viewers still have questions about why she left in the first place.

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Wait, so was Mackenzie McKee actually fired from 'Teen Mom'?

Here’s what happened: Back in January of 2021, Mackenzie shared a controversial statement to her Facebook that read, in part, “Sorry, no. There are a lot of amazing women in the world for my daughters to look up to and see as role models. Kamala Harris is not one of them."

When someone commented, "I started reading the first paragraph, and I was like umm imma have to disagree. Then kept reading, and I’m like yep, that’s why we’re friends,” Mackenzie commented back and said, “It blows my mind that out of all the amazing colored women in this world, that is the one who is making history.” As we know, using the term “colored woman” is extremely outdated and politically incorrect and offensive, so Mackenzie was called out for this.

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Mackenzie McKee's racist comment online
Source: Reddit

However, instead of defending herself, she immediately owned up to it and thanked people for calling her out. Mackenzie consequently tweeted, “Growth is being called out and learning from my mistake, even if I meant no harm versus making excuses for myself and justifying it.” Regardless, many people called for Mackenzie to be fired from Teen Mom.

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On April 24, 2021, Mackenzie took to her Instagram Live to try to “share the facts” with her followers on what really went down, before an episode of Teen Mom would be airing that she believes paints her as a racist.

She explained, “[MTV] didn't want to squash it right then and there because they wanted it to be part of the show, and this is what you will see next Tuesday.”

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Perhaps, though, the real reason MTV didn’t want Mackenzie to make her own statement is that they expected her to say something along the lines of, well, exactly what she ended up saying. Mackenzie entered into a rant on how “cancel culture” has gone too far and people just want to be the “mask police."

Not long after this incident, Mackenzie was no longer featured on shows in the Teen Mom franchise.

Mackenzie McKee is back on 'Teen Mom: Family Reunion.'

When The Season 3 cast for Teen Mom: Family Reunion was announced, Mackenzie was named as a returning cast member. And, it appears, the other moms welcomed her back with open arms — literally. In an Instagram post, Mackenzie shared that she was in Times Square, when she ran into some of the other moms, and they all embraced for a group hug.

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Prior to her return, Mackenzie spoke on the podcast Sarasota SpeaX and opened up about how being let go from Teen Mom OG caused her business to temporarily go under and how she received tons of hate on social media. But apparently, time heals all wounds, because it looks like Mackenzie's extended leave of absence from Teen Mom has come to an end.

Watch Teen Mom: Family Reunion on Wednesdays at 8 p.m. EST on MTV.

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