90 Day Fiancé: Before The 90 Days faced controversy shortly into its season when several racist social media posts from cast member Alina Kozhevnikova resurfaced online. TLC ultimately decided to remove Alina and her story with Caleb Greenwood from the series. Now, it looks like another current cast member of the TLC series is under fire for past social media posts that allegedly exhibit racism and anti-LGBTQ+ views. And the cast member in question is series star Mike Berk.
Mike recently gained sympathy from a number of 90 Day Fiancé fans after all of the drama with his foreign girlfriend, Ximena Morales. Now, a slew of Instagram posts from his past account are drawing a significant amount of backlash. One of the posts, which centers on the government shutdown, includes a racial slur and features a hashtag that suggests former President Barack Obama should be president of Kenya:
It would seem that fans are disappointed to see such content present on Mike's social media. This is especially due to the fact that the posts come so soon after Alina's situation. Another post from his account featured a meme regarding people of Asian descent:
It’s worth noting that a number of these posts were made in 2013 and that Mike Berk hasn’t posted such content in recent years. With that said, he hasn’t deleted the posts from his account or commented on them, despite the public attention they’ve gotten from the 90 Day Fiancé fandom:
Within the series of posts is at least one meme that some fans find both upsetting and transphobic. The meme uses a term for Trans people that is considered derogatory and tries to tie it to a term in the automotive industry:
As mentioned, Mike Berk currently uses an alternate Instagram account for the show, and memes and other controversial remark are not present. Considering that Mike hasn’t directly addressed the posts, it's unclear at this time as to whether he’s aware of the backlash (something that's become common with the show's biggest stars). It remains to be seen if he’ll make a statement regarding the posts in question.
As of this writing, TLC has also not spoken publicly on the situation. One might think the network could consider firing the star, especially considering how it quickly removed Alina Kozhevnikova from the show following her controversy. Though it’s possible that since this has surfaced so late in the season, the network could continue to air out the storyline. At this point, we’ll just have to wait and see how things pan out.
90 Day Fiancé: Before The 90 Days airs on TLC Sundays at 8:00 p.m. ET. More new shows in the franchise are on the way when this season is done, so be sure to keep an eye out for what’s around the corner.
