Earlier this month, Leah Messer took her daughters to her local Pride parade.
She posted photos of the event, and for the most part, fans praised the Teen Mom star for taking part in an important activity and showing her support for her LGBTQ+ community
But because we live in a time when people are weirdly comfortable advertising their own bigotry, Leah also received quite a few hateful comments from unabashed homophobes.
The controversy created quite a stir in the Teen Mom-obsessed corners of social media, so we suppose it should come as no surprise that professional clout chaser Jenelle Evans has now entered the fray.
Earlier this week, Jenelle reposted a photo of Leah and her daughters (below) and asked her fans to sound off on her former castmate’s decision to take her kids to the parade.
“What are your opinions about taking kids to Pride events? Agree or disagree?” Evans captioned the post.
Though most commenters expressed support for the decision, the post also resulted in some harsh criticism of Pride events in general and Leah in particular.
“I think it’s wrong. Let kids be kids. They don’t need to be exposed to things like this. Keep them innocent for as long as possible,” one person wrote.
No. Not a place for children at all!!! I would never put my kids in that environment. I’m surprised she did that to be honest,” another added.
“Definitely not a good place for children. I think it’s absolutely crazy to take kids to pride!” a third chimed in.
Wisely, Leah decided not to weigh in in Jenelle’s comments, but she did make her feelings known through a representative.
“Leah Messer has no comment. She trusts in her parenting choices and will continue to follow that versus the opinion of others,” the rep said in a statement issued on Monday.
“She recommends the former cast member of Teen Mom 2 focus on herself and her own kids,” the statement continued, concluding:
“This is Jenelle looking for some sort of clout off of commenting on Leah.”
Not surprisingly, it wasn’t long before Jenelle seized the opportunity to keep this story going:
“At least tag me InTouch uhmm Leah Messer,” she wrote on Facebook, alongside a screenshot of the quote from Leah’s rep.
“It was an open ended question intended for any kids at ANY pride event. It was not directed towards Leah, but if the shoe fits wear it,” Jenelle continued, as though she hadn’t made her intentions obvious by posting a photo of Leah and her kids.
“If Leah doesn’t want comments being made about her children, maybe she shouldn’t be posting about them online and focus more on her children’s privacy. As for clout? I’m sure I have enough of my own.. def don’t need hers.”
Obviously, there’s sort of a pot/kettle situation going on here, as Jenelle posts about her own kids quite frequently, but is the first to demand privacy whenever she receives any sort of criticism.
Of course, in Jenelle’s case, the criticism usually has less to do with something innocuous like taking her kids to a parade, and more to do with something genuinely concerning, like when she told the world that her children are terrified of her abusive husband and then proceeded moved back in with the man.
And if anyone mentions that situation to Jenelle, she goes on the attack.
Knowing how upset she gets, you’d think Jenelle would avoid posting pics of other people’s kids without their permission, but there’s not a whole lot about her life that makes sense.