Today’s very special episode of Tyra, starring a half-comatose Levi Johnston and his family, clearly pushed one of Sarah Palin’s buttons. On air, Johnston described how Sarah Palin most likely knew that he and her daughter, Bristol, were sexually active. “Moms are pretty smart,” he rightly observed, simply but aggressively calling into question Palin’s strident belief in abstinence-only sex education. The preview of this moment caused Sarah Palin’s office to release a statement saying:
“Bristol did not even know Levi was going on the show. We’re disappointed that Levi and his family, in a quest for fame, attention, and fortune, are engaging in flat-out lies, gross exaggeration, and even distortion of their relationship. Bristol’s focus will remain on raising Tripp, completing her education, and advocating abstinence. It is unfortunate that Levi finds it more appealing to exploit his previous relationship with Bristol than to contribute to the well being of the child.”
The problem here, obviously, is that Bristol Palin may advocate abstinence, but she doesn’t think abstinence-only education is realistic. In fact, she told Greta Van Susteren that telling kids to abstain from sex is “not realistic at all.” Kit Seeley at the New York Times thinks this is a sure sign that Sarah Palin is running for president in 2012 — otherwise she’d have probably remained mum on the whole issue. As if we needed any other sure signs.
Mother Sherry Johnston also told Tyra that their once-good family relationships with the Palins have “just turned into a nightmare.” Levi explained that his engagement to Bristol ended not because of any cheating, but that after they had the baby, “things got a lot more complicated.” “We started fighting. We just weren’t seeing eye to eye with one another anymore,” he said. “We thought it would be better just to be friends and work things out this way.” (Levi clearly does not watch enough daytime television to know that the way to “work things out” is never to “go on Tyra and talk about it.”) His family also said that it’s been hard to see baby Tripp, and that the lies that have been printed about them are extremely upsetting. “It’s ridiculous how someone could come up with a lot of stuff like that,” Levi explained. “But at the same time it’s kind of funny that they ain’t got nothin’ better to do than pick on some young kids.”
It is ridiculous that people bother to come up with stuff like that. The reality of the Johnstons is clearly magical enough!
Palin Isn’t Happy About Today’s ‘Tyra Show’ [Caucus/NYT]
Earlier: Sex on Skates Opens Up to Tyra About Unsafe Sex
