Johnny Bananas claims racist moment on Pop the Balloon Live a misunderstanding

Johnny Bananas was one of the reality TV star guests on the first episode of Netflix's live version of Pop the Balloon, adapted from a YouTube series created by Arlette Amuli and Bolia Matundu.

Unfortunately, things didn't exactly go smoothly for the series which many fans referred to as being a "gentrified" version of their favorite YouTube series and things were particularly rocky for The Challenge star Johnny Bananas.

Johnny Bananas accused of making a racially insensitive comment during Pop the Balloon Live

During his appearance on the episode, Johnny Bananas was asked what he thought about each of the women that had come to find love and he turned to the lineup and mentioned their toes. After complimenting the toes of one woman, he seemed to point in the direction of one of the Black women in the lineup and said, "You look like you sleep from a tree upside down."

The camera focused on the Black woman in the lineup who asked if she was who Johnny Bananas had directed the comment toward and the reality TV star doubled down on his assessment by trying to spin it as a compliment.

Host Yvonne Orji asked if toes are an important quality in a woman and he responded by saying, "You need good toes to build a home."

At no point did he clear up whether or not he was speaking to the Black woman in the lineup and he was escorted backstage after the comment, after which the show continued.

Johnny Bananas was already on thin ice with many viewers because of a previous issue he had in which he seemingly referred to Big Brother winner Taylor Hale, also a Black woman, as a gorilla in a now-deleted post shared to X (formerly Twitter).

The previous post directed at Taylor Hale was not posted by Johnny Bananas and the social media marketing agency that posted on his behalf explained the shortsightedness of their post, but for many fans, the damage had already been done. When he seemed to make a similar comment to another black woman, it stacked up with his previous offense for fans that were already unhappy with his appearance on the series.

Now, Johnny Bananas is claiming that the whole thing was a misunderstanding and he was not talking to the Black woman in the lineup when he made the comment.

Johnny Bananas says his Pop the Balloon Live misstep was a misunderstanding

In a post shared to his own X account, Johnny Bananas claimed that he was speaking to another of the white women in the lineup who was dressed with a leaf-print dress on and that his comment was a reference to her outfit.

"Hey morons, I was actually talking about the WHITE girl whose toes were hanging over her shoes who is literally dressed like a f---ing tree!" He wrote in the post, accompanying his statement with a screenshot from the episode with a circle drawn around her shoes. The statement continues, "It’s wild how fast some people can twist a moment into a false narrative. There’s real racism out there, weaponizing fake outrage for clicks cheapens it."

Despite his explanation, many fans questioned why he didn't explain that he wasn't talking to the Black woman in the lineup when she reacted to his comment. While it's possible that it was as simple as him not hearing her reacting to his comment in order to clear things up on the spot, there are still some viewers that don't believe his explanation.

Pop the Balloon Live airs live Thursdays on Netflix at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT. The YouTube series that started it all, "Pop the Balloon Or Find Love," is uploaded Wednesdays on Arlette Amuli's YouTube channel.