Trip uses the word at about 1:00 in. If this video is not viewable in your country, you can watch it here.

The last we heard about Bristol Palin, her reality show was being moved to a later time slot on Lifetime after dismal ratings and even worse reviews. Bristol’s show, “Life’s a Tripp,” was faring so poorly that it was replaced by re-runs of “Dance Moms.” We didn’t cover that story, because it seemed inevitable to me and I was relieved not to have to think about Bristol and her “career.”

Well “Life’s a Trip” is still airing and Bristol is still making headlines. In the latest episode, her son Tripp, 3, called his aunt Willow a “f*ggot” when she tried to discipline him. We know Willow has also used that anti-gay slur, as she wrote it on Facebook in an argument against a guy who was mocking her family, calling him “so gay” and “such a f*ggot.” Here’s more:

The Palins have never been known for being particularly gay-friendly — and unfortunately, it seems as if the youngest member of the family is following in the footsteps of his elders.

A newly-released clip from the Lifetime reality series “Bristol Palin: Life’s a Tripp” shows Tripp Palin uttering a homophobic slur when mom Bristol and aunt Willow won’t let him visit the swimming pool.

The Palin sisters gasp, and then giggle, when three-year-old Tripp’s temper tantrum culminates in the tot calling his aunt a “faggot.”

Though Bristol does confess that she’s “doing a terrible job disciplining Tripp…I know he’s going to continue to push the boundaries,” her son’s behavior doesn’t seem too out of step, given his family’s history of anti-gay activity. In 2010, Willow sparked controversy when she fired off at a classmate on Facebook, referring to him “so gay” and “such a faggot.”

Perhaps Sarah Palin’s grandson would be better served by taking notes from dad Levi Johnston, who in 2009 embraced his gay icon status on “The Joy Behar Show” following his steamy spread in Playgirl magazine.

[From The Huffington Post]

Kids repeat what they hear at home. I’ll admit that my son has used the other F word, the more common one, with consequences, but if he’s ever heard this one he knows not to say it. I once explained to him that it was wrong for his friends to call something “gay” in a derogatory way after he asked about it. It’s doubtful Bristol has had that conversation with her son. We know her position on same sex marriage rights. This isn’t the most open-minded family.

This makes me wonder why producers decided to leave that segment in the show. It’s for ratings obviously, but if Bristol wanted it cut she could have made a case for it. (Note that they did not cut out a part of Bristol’s argument with a heckler in which she asked him if he didn’t like her mom because he was “a homosexual.” This was reported incorrectly by some outlets.) In Bristol’s mind, Tripp saying that word is probably about the same as a kid using a mild swear word. She wasn’t horrified, she was laughing.

After I wrote this story I found a blog Bristol wrote in which she claimed that Tripp used the other F word. Of course she blamed the media for claiming he said it, writing “I guess the temptation to label my three year old son is just too great for the lefty papers to resist.” It’s about her parenting, it’s not about her little kid, but I wouldn’t expect her to grasp that. Watch her kid say the word again and tell me he said “f#$@,” not “f*ggot.” It sounded like it ended with a “t,” not an “er,” but whatever. The Palins are always victimized by the media.

We’ve heard that Bristol Palin’s reality show is just awful and not even on par with the very low bar set by other family reality shows. The numbers are in for the show’s debut and they very much reflect that. The premiere of “Life’s a Tripp” only had about 726,000 total viewers, which is less than half the debut number for Roseanne Barr’s one-off reality show, “Roseanne’s Nuts,” according to Deadline. I’d like to point out that Kirstie Alley’s reality show, “Kirstie Alley’s Big Life” also got double those ratings with a 1.4 million premiere. So Bristol’s show is not long for this world, which should come as good news to most people, not that many of us beyond the gossip-obsessed are paying attention to it.

As an aside, remember when Bristol and her baby daddy Levi reunited briefly, got engaged and were on the cover of US Weekly? That was in July, 2010. They swore in the accompanying interview that they were waiting until marriage to have sex again. (They had a child together and Bristol admitted that they had sex many times, even though she tried to claim the first time was when she lost her virginity to Levi while blackout drunk.) Well Bristol has another boyfriend, Gino, and she’s been with him seriously for at least a year and a half, going by when we first heard about him. (An article earlier this year claimed they’d been “on and off for three years,” which would have overlapped with her brief reunion with Levi. Either way, they’ve been together awhile.) Bristol tells In Touch that she and Gino are waiting to have sex until marriage. Good for her I guess, and why again is she volunteering this information? She said the same thing back in January, so I guess she’s sticking with it.

“Gino and I are going to wait until marriage,” she says of her pipeline worker boyfriend, Giacinto “Gino” Paoletti, also 21. “I’m doing what’s best for me. It’s between me and God, and I know it’s right.”

“Since I have this platform, I want to use it for good…

“I want to let girls know that this isn’t ideal, this isn’t fun, this isn’t easy.

“Gino’s an awesome male role mode. He takes Tripp fishing, takes him out on the Jet Skis and shows him off to his friends. He just loves Tripp endlessly, and I am so thankful for that…

“Gino is on the same path; he has the same faith as I do. I’m blessed to have him by my side.”

“[Levi] hasn’t been an active father to Tripp, He hasn’t been paying child support. I don’t wish that on anyone.”

[From In Touch, print edition, July 2, 2012]

I don’t mean to split hairs here, but if she’s been with this guy for this long, why is she saying they’re “going to wait until marriage” to have sex not that they “are waiting until marriage.” It just sounds like she’s revising history after the fact. Again, good for them if that’s their conviction on the matter. It sounds kind of sweet if you forget everything you know about Bristol.

Bristol has to have some kind of career now that her reality show dreams are being shattered. Since she’s not going to college she could always go back to lecturing on the abstinence circuit for big bucks. That’s probably her plan here.

Also, to address the quotes about how Levi is a deadbeat dad, Levi’s new pregnant girlfriend said that he’s been trying to see his son, but that he refused to appear on Bristol’s reality show. After that, Bristol supposedly shut him out. I could buy that side of the story but I don’t believe Levi is a devoted dad, either.

I’ll be honest, I haven’t yet seen Bristol Palin’s new reality show, “Life’s a Tripp.” I tried to get access to it, but I’m away from home so I couldn’t DVR it and it’s not available on demand or on iTunes. Judging from the clips that People had up last week, and the scathing reviews, I kind of dodged a bullet on that one. Almost all reviewers agree that it’s awful, and they have a lot of the same complaints.

Many outlets are calling Bristol out for bitching about being a single mom and completely ignoring the fact that she has massive means at her disposal. (An issue I take with a lot of reality shows, incidentally, particularly “Teen Mom.”) In one scene that was previewed on People, Bristol cries to her 17 year-old sister, Willow, begging her to stay in L.A. in the amazing home they somehow landed (for the show, surely) in order to basically serve as a babysitter for Bristol’s three year-old son, Tripp. I get that Bristol doesn’t know many people in L.A., but she could easily find a daycare or babysitting service for the child. (And in a subsequent scene, Bristol and Willow are shown shopping alone, which begs the question: who’s watching Tripp?) That’s not what this show is about. It’s about manufactured drama and inane dialogue, like so many other reality shows. Only this one fails miserably, according to every account I’ve read.

I’ll quote Yahoo!’s Shine here, because they do a good job of summing up the consensus on this show from multiple reviewers:

In the first episode, Bristol moves from Wasilla, Alaska to Los Angeles, allegedly to “show Tripp what’s out there.” (Because three-year-olds are so interested in the wider world.) She moves into a pre-fab Beverly Hills mansion and is joined by her 17-year-old sister Willow, who has come to help with the babysitting. The episode ends with an incident that was widely publicized during the show’s filming, in which Bristol goes out to a bar, rides a mechanical bull and gets in a fight with a heckler. The man calls her mother “a whore.” The following exchange in which Bristol concludes that he must be “a homosexual” did not air. (See the video here.)

The critics point out that Bristol’s parenting challenges aren’t quite the same as most people’s. Her childcare issues, writes Robert Lloyd in The Los Angles Times, “stem from not wanting to hire ‘some random baby-sitter,’ not from a lack of wherewithal.” Lloyd also points out that we see Bristol and Willow shop for groceries and clothing, “without Tripp…presumably looking after himself back at the mansion.” Lori Rackl of the Chicago Sun-Times notes that “The trio move into a Beverly Hills mansion where Bristol has to teach Tripp things like the difference between a bidet and a water fountain. No one said being a single mom was easy.”

Perhaps more disturbing for fans of the adorable, scene-stealing Tripp, Bristol’s son with her teenage-years boyfriend Levi Johnston, is the single mom’s willingness to torch Tripp’s dad on national television. Alessandra Stanley, reviewing the show in The New York Times, writes that “the show’s promos show Bristol putting Johnston’s memoir ‘Deer in the Headlights,’ on a range and firing at it with a rifle, saying, ‘This is for all the single moms.’” Stanley says that “Much of the narrative revolves around Bristol’s attempts to shame her ex-boyfriend into seeing his son.”

Here are the takeaways from the critics:

The New York Times
“That big sister-little sister dynamic [between Bristol and Willow] has some real-life resonance, but the “Teen Mom” poignancy is undercut by the palatial surroundings.”

The Washington Post
“Even if you have a lasting grudge against all things Palin, there’s no payoff here. It’s a new low for anyone who makes the mistake of watching.”

The Los Angeles Times
“We’re left with a show about two sisters, temporarily billeted in a Beverly Hills mansion, mostly complaining about Los Angeles, each other and their lives.”

Chicago Sun-Times
“With the exception of the bull-ride-gone-bad scene, Bristol’s day-to-day life isn’t very interesting. Neither are the occasional shots where Sarah Palin pops up to offer homespun wisdom and maternal advice…. What we’re left with are Bristol and Willow shopping, squabbling and engaging in vapid conversations. In other words, the Alaskan Kardashians.”

[From Shine.Yahoo.Com]

That “Alaskan Kardashian” argument resonated through a the critiques, but many wrote that the show in no way lived up to the Kardashians. EW’s commentary is particularly scathing:

But whatever you were expecting from Bristol Palin’s reality show, I can’t imagine that anyone was expecting Life’s a Tripp to turn into one of the weirdest — and most uncomfortable — reality shows in recent history. Because the show is not a catchy piece of pop propaganda like Sarah Palin’s Alaska. Nor is it a “My Funny Famous Family” riff on The Osbournes. Nor is it a show about the struggles of parenting, like Teen Mom or pre-controversy Jon & Kate Plus Eight. Instead, the season premiere of Life’s a Tripp saw Bristol Palin trying to go full Kardashian, to pitch herself as a character who is simultaneously approachable and decadent. She failed, quite visibly. Besides Mother and Daughter Palin, almost no one seemed to want to be on screen.

[From EW]

As Yahoo explained, the scene where Bristol Palin asked a heckler if he was a “homosexual” (because, in her mind, that was relevant to why he was trash-talking her mom) was edited so that part was taken out. (Update: several of you have commented that this is not the case, and that this part remained in the show.) We all saw the video already, Lifetime isn’t fooling anyone. That guy is currently suing Lifetime, and Bristol, for using his footage for the show without getting his sign-off. That’s not the only lawsuit the show is facing. Do you remember the rumors that Bristol’s reality show was originally going to feature the Massey brothers, including Bristol’s DWTS castmate Kyle, all living together in L.A.? According to a new lawsuit, the entire concept of a Bristol Palin and Massey brothers reality show was conceived and pitched by the Massey family, who got cut out of the deal without compensation. Angela Massey issued a statement that explains their side of the story:

“It is unfortunate that after months of trying to resolve this matter the professional way, we were left with no other course of action than to take legal action to protect ourselves. If you read the entire complaint, and particularly pages 8-11, you will see how we created the show, registered the show and did all the leg work to bring this idea to TV and to the defendants, who stole our concept.”

Maybe this show would have been watchable if the Massey brothers were involved. As it is, it sounds like a big contrived mess. I doubt that all the episodes will even air.

Last September, footage came out of Bristol Palin getting heckled at an L.A. bar called the Saddle Ranch after she seemed to thoroughly enjoy a ride on a mechanical bull. It was all conveniently filmed for Bristol’s reality show, (You can see the video here) although Bristol’s ignorant response to the heckler kind of belied the theory that it was a setup. The guy, unprovoked, called Bristol’s mother a “whore” and “the devil” and said that “If there is a hell, she will be there.” Bristol’s brilliant comeback to this rant was to ask the guy “Is it because you’re a homosexual?” I could go on, but I’ll spare you.

Well now that guy is suing Bristol and the Lifetime channel, which will be airing the premiere of Bristol’s reality show next week FYI, for using the footage without his signing off on it. The timing is very suspect to me, although the plaintiff claims he tried to contact Bristol’s people and Lifetime for weeks and had no other recourse. Here’s more, from Reuters:

A man who heckled Bristol Palin in a Los Angeles bar and insulted her conservative politician mother, Sarah Palin, filed a lawsuit on Wednesday accusing the single mom of defamation.

Talent manager Stephen Hanks also sued cable channel Lifetime, which includes film of the 2011 incident in Bristol Palin’s upcoming reality TV show, claiming he had not given the program’s makers his permission to be filmed.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. federal court in Los Angeles, stems from a widely publicized September 2011 incident at a bar and restaurant on the famous Sunset Strip.

The amount of damages is not specified but Hank’s lawyer, Los Angeles-based Michael Gulden, told Reuters the suit had been filed in federal court because the plaintiff was seeking more than $75,000.

Representatives for Palin and Lifetime did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Palin, who rose to fame because of a teen pregnancy when her mother was running for U.S. vice president in 2008 as a Republican, had just ridden a mechanical bull at the bar when Hanks, who was a customer there, shouted out that her mother was “a whore” and said she was “evil”.

Video of the exchange that was widely posted on the Internet shows Palin, 21, confronting Hanks, asking him if he was gay, and getting into a heated exchange with the man who heckled her.

Palin later told celebrity magazine In Touch that the incident was one of the reasons she had decided to leave Los Angeles and return to her home in Wasilla, Alaska.

Hanks claims in his lawsuit, however, that Palin had bought a new house in Alaska in July 2011, and that she had defamed him by publicly blaming their encounter for her decision to leave Los Angeles.

Hanks also says he suffered emotional distress and invasion of privacy over Palin’s questions about his sexuality, and the use of the incident in publicity for the TV reality show.

“Bristol Palin’s conduct was outrageous”, states the lawsuit, a copy of which was obtained by Reuters.

“Bristol Palin first accused Plaintiff off ‘being a homosexual’ in a degrading manner in front of others … she then in a magazine article blamed Plaintiff for her decision to leave Los Angeles for Alaska even though she had purchased her home in Alaska … more than two months before the encounter,” the lawsuit adds.

Palin’s reality show “Life’s a Tripp”, which chronicles her stay in Los Angeles with her now 3-year-old son Tripp and her return to Alaska, is scheduled to premiere on the Lifetime cable channel on June 19.

Gulden said Hanks had tried without success to solve the matter outside the courts with Lifetime and its parent company A&E Television Networks, which is owned by NBCUniversal, Disney-ABC Television, and the Hearst Corporation.

“He has communicated with A&E regarding use of the footage, and they were non-responsive. He felt (filing the lawsuit) was all he could do to protects his rights,” Gulden told Reuters.

[From Reuters]

Bristol’s response to this guy may have been outrageous, but he said some truly obnoxious, uncalled-for things about her mother, and he started it by yelling that her mother was a whore. She was just minding her own business enjoying that bull ride. I can’t believe I’m defending Bristol, and there’s no defense for what she said, but what excuse does this guy have? Her mom wasn’t even a potential candidate for anything in September of last year, it’s not like she was influencing anyone but Fox News viewer with her hockey mom “everyone is out to get me” shtick.

In related news about Bristol’s upcoming show, “Life’s a Tripp,” People magazine has a couple of new promotional clips. In one, Bristol cries and begs her 16 year-old sister Willow to stay with her in L.A. because she has no other family there to help care for her son. It seemed very self-centered and entitled to me, and in no way realistic. She was filming a reality show at the time and she still presumably has the cash she earned on Dancing with The Stars. Put the kid in preschool and hire a babysitter. Your family, especially your 16 year-old sister, doesn’t owe it to you to care for the kid you had as a teen. Who knows how much of this is real, but I doubt Bristol can act well enough to cry like on cue.

Bristol and Tripp are shown out in L.A. on 9-21-12. Credit: FameFlynet

Bristol Palin is promoting her new Lifetime reality show “Life’s a Tripp,” because we need yet another reality show and her mother’s worked out so well. She was on “Good Morning America” yesterday to discuss the show, and I found her as defensive and unlikable as I have in the past. Like mother like daughter. The video of her interview is above, thanks to The Hollywood Gossip, and here’s some of what she said, thanks to Realitytvworld:

“People are going to see the real Bristol in this show,” Palin told Good Morning America in an interview broadcast Monday morning. “[I'm] a grounded, normal mom.”

While the former eleventh-season Dancing with the Stars participant said she had the full support of her mother and former Alaska governor and Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin during the show’s filming, Palin made it clear she also aggressively backed her mom when necessary — including one instance when she got into a heated argument with a man at a bar over a difference in political opinion.

“I think if somebody is going to talk poorly about my mom, I am going to pick and choose my battles and a battle like that, I chose to confront him and see what the real problem was,” Palin told GMA.

“I’m excited for viewers to see the real me in that, because I’m sitting there all tough and shaking and I’m acting tough and instantly when it’s over, it’s like, ‘Okay, there’s the real Bristol,’ because I am calling my boyfriend, I’m calling my mom. ‘Ah, get me out of here.’”

The 21-year-old reality TV star explained it was difficult having cameras around filming 24/7 although her son didn’t seem to mind.

“I don’t really think you get used to all of it but Tripp was used to it the whole time. He didn’t care if the cameras were there or not. He’s still going to be rowdy, he’s still going to be a little terror, but it was fun. It was a lot of fun,” Palin said, adding she was, however, prepared to face constant criticism from the public.

“I think I have tough skin and I know that God is on my side and my faith is everything to me… And when people are talking poorly about me, I think it just gives me more motivation to want to do more and want to speak up even louder and they’re just not doing themselves well by doing that. I think the people who don’t like me, I’m not trying to change their opinion on it, but it’s going to be a good show.”

[From Reality TV World]

As Reality TV World points out, this is Bristol’s second reality TV deal. She was originally supposed to be featured in a show with the Massey brothers, including Kyle who competed with her on Dancing with The Stars, but it looks like that was shelved in favor of featuring just Bristol, her son Tripp and her sister Willow moving to LA. We heard last year that Bristol was hoping that she and Willow would become famous like the Kardashian sisters.

I think the reality show market is saturated, but I’ll just end by saying something that always occurs to me when I hear about children on reality television. I don’t believe that Tripp doesn’t know the cameras are there. I think kids at that age are smart enough to know when they’re being filmed, and that it does affect them, especially when they start to get famous and are faced with losing parts of their childhood. I shouldn’t get all concerned about Tripp at this point. It’s not likely this show is going to last more than a season.

These photos of Bristol signing her book are from February. Credit: Mark Wilkins/FameFlynet Pictures

On Wednesday, every cable news network threw up the “Breaking News” banner and ran with the earth-shaking news: Pres. Obama now supports gay marriage. He had supported civil unions in the 2008 election, but he had always hedged on supporting full marriage rights to gay couples. After Vice President Joe Biden came out for gay marriage on Meet the Press on Sunday, Pres. Obama discussed his gradual change of heart in an ABC interview on Wednesday (you can see the full video here).

It’s an interesting and emotional moment in the American human rights movement, and I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t get a little bit misty when Obama described his discussions with his wife and two daughters, using the wording: “…it wouldn’t dawn on them that somehow their friends’ parents would be treated differently. It doesn’t make sense to them and, frankly, that’s the kind of thing that prompts a change in perspective.”

Honestly, it would have never occurred to me that the part about Obama sitting down with his wife and daughters would be the part that some people would latch on to and attack. Which brings me to this – Bristol Palin (or more specifically, Bristol Palin’s blog ghostwriter) has decided to weigh in. And her views (her ghostwriter’s views) are just as hypocritical and ridiculous as you’d guess. Bristol titled her blog post “Hail to the Chiefs – Malia and Sasha Obama”. You can already feel where this is headed, right?

Is anyone really surprised by the fact that President Obama came out of the closet for gay marriage? What was most surprising is when he explained how his position (supposedly) “evolved,” by talking to his wife and daughters:

“It’s interesting, some of this is also generational,” the president continued. “You know when I go to college campuses, sometimes I talk to college Republicans who think that I have terrible policies on the economy, on foreign policy, but are very clear that when it comes to same-sex equality or, you know, sexual orientation, that they believe in equality. They are much more comfortable with it. You know, Malia and Sasha, they have friends whose parents are same-sex couples. There have been times where Michelle and I have been sitting around the dinner table and we’re talking about their friends and their parents and Malia and Sasha, it wouldn’t dawn on them that somehow their friends’ parents would be treated differently. It doesn’t make sense to them and, frankly, that’s the kind of thing that prompts a change in perspective.”

Let’s pause for just one second. When Christian women run for high office, people inevitably bring up the question of submission. Once, Michele Bachmann, for example, was asked during a debate, “As president, would you be submissive to your husband?”
People automatically assume that a Christian female President isn’t capable of making decisions without her spouse’s stamp of approval. (I should add female Republican candidates –liberal women don’t get the same kind of questions.)

So are all those reporters who feared excessive family intervention in the White House all up in arms over the President’s announcement yesterday? Um. Not quite. Liberals everywhere are applauding him for his bravery and his wisdom.

So let me get this straight – it’s a problem if my mom listened too much to my dad, but it’s a heroic act if the President made a massive change in a policy position that could affect the entire nation after consulting with his teenage daughters?

While it’s great to listen to your kids’ ideas, there’s also a time when dads simply need to be dads. In this case, it would’ve been helpful for him to explain to Malia and Sasha that while her friends parents are no doubt lovely people, that’s not a reason to change thousands of years of thinking about marriage. Or that – as great as her friends may be – we know that in general kids do better growing up in a mother/father home. Ideally, fathers help shape their kids’ worldview.

In this situation, it was the other way around. I guess we can be glad that Malia and Sasha aren’t younger, or perhaps today’s press conference might have been about appointing Dora the Explorer as Attorney General because of her success in stopping Swiper the Fox.

Sometimes dads should lead their family in the right ways of thinking. In this case, it would’ve been nice if the President would’ve been an actual leader and helped shape their thoughts instead of merely reflecting what many teenagers think after one too many episodes of Glee.

[From Bristol’s blog]

I understand (sort of) the social conservative argument against gay marriage. I mean, I don’t agree with their argument, but I understand the gist of the argument. But here’s a question, social conservatives: is Bristol Palin the best person to be making your argument? Or does she come across as a convoluted, asinine hypocrite? Bristol Palin, a single, never-married mother whose family systematically pushed out and attacked her baby-daddy, thinks all kids should have a mom and a dad, and that’s why there should be no gay marriage. And she’s absolutely horrified at the idea of a father (who, in Bristol’s mind, is absolutely necessary and that’s why lesbians shouldn’t raise babies) would actually listen to his daughters thoughts, opinions and world views. Is it offensive that the president loves and respects the women in his life so much that these women influence him and change him and make him grow as a man and as a leader?

And of course, the Glee reference. Look, I don’t like Glee either, but I think it’s crass that Glee is being used a unsubtle code for “the President’s daughters watch TV shows about gay people and the show is going to turn them gay and then they’ll influence their father who loves gay people. GAY!! BE AFRAID.” Is that the punchline? Because Lindsay Lohan is going to be on Glee. And I doubt her appearance is going to influence people to be crackheads. Although I do anxiously await that Bristol blog post.

I guess I shouldn’t get my panties in a twist about this, though. It’s not like Bristol wrote it herself. And before anyone starts yelling about Bristol not being a celebrity and not being worthy of this kind of attention …please. Dancing With the Stars. Tabloid cover stories and interviews. She’s a celebrity. She’s like a Kardashian, only the real Kardashians support gay rights.

Photos courtesy of WENN.

For what it’s worth, In Touch Weekly scored an exclusive interview with Bristol Palin. They have Bristol’s reaction to her ex and baby daddy, Levi Johnston, fathering yet another child just three years after his first oops baby. Bristol of course says that Levi isn’t visiting their son, Tripp, while Levi has repeatedly claimed that Bristol and her mother are blocking his attempts to see the child. I think it’s probably true that the Palins tried to cut Levi out of Tripp’s life, and I think that Levi just gave up, stopped paying child support and stopped trying to see Tripp. That’s not how Bristol sees it, though. It was just a couple of years ago that she reunited with Levi and announced their re-engagement on the cover of US Weekly. Now he’s got a new girlfriend and a new baby on the way when he can’t be bothered to maintain contact with his first kid.

Here’s what Bristol told In Touch:

Her reaction to hearing that Levi’s girlfriend is pregnant
“I said, ‘No Way, shut up!’”

On her feelings about it
“I think it’s a little bit of everything and a lot of confusion. I’m upset about it.”

On Levi’s parenting
“He’s seen Tripp twice in the past four months. He once went an entire year without seeing him at all.

“I wish Levi would be like, ‘Hey Bristol, can I have Tripp for the weekend? I would be so willing and glad to do that. He continues to lie.”

On Tripp’s relationship with his dad
“Levi is a stranger to Tripp. He doesn’t understand that Levi is his dad.

“I don’t want him to go to elementary school with 10 half-siblings. That would really affect him.”

On Levi’s new kid
“I hope that this child is raised with two parents. He needs to step up to the plate and be there. I thought he had learned his lesson the first time.”

[From In Touch, print edition, April 23, 2012]

Well I hope that Bristol is telling the truth and that she’s making sure Levi has access to Tripp. As we mentioned yesterday, Levi and his newish pregnant girlfriend, Sunny Oglesby, went on The Insider to explain her pregnancy. Levi’s quote on how he knocked up another one is priceless so I’ll repeat it again “There was a time we went to the cabin and forgot the birth control pills and, you know, about a month later we found out we were having a baby.” Uh derp. In that interview, Sunny defended Levi as a dad, so I’m hoping she’ll be instrumental in making sure he visits Tripp. Maybe Levi will realize what he’s missing out in his oldest kid’s life once he has another baby. Or not. He’s not the brightest or the most responsible.

US Weekly from July, 2010:

Bristol is shown signing copies of her book on 2-11-12, credit: FameFlynet and on 8-18-11 Credit: Fallen Star, PCNPhotos. Levi is shown on 9-21-11. Credit: Enrique Carrillo, PCNPhotos

As you may have heard and tried to forget about, Levi Johnston, Bristol Palin’s baby daddy, has knocked up another girlfriend. Considering that the guy has a three year-old son whom he never sees and owes significant child support on, you would think that he would take measures to avoid getting another woman pregnant. Not so much. Levi, 21, and his wide-eyed pregnant girlfriend, Sunny Oglesby, went on The Insider to explain how this happened. It was because they went to a cabin in the woods and Sunny “forgot” her pills. Did Sunny tell Levi about this or did she not inform him until afterwards? I mean I’m sure Levi wouldn’t have bothered to wrap it up or pull out anyway, but if he thought that Sunny was on bc it’s a different story. Either way, he’s sticking with her and says he’s excited to have another baby. Here are details from part of their interview (the video is above) thanks to Radar Online. The rest will air tonight, Thursday:

Levi Johnston is about to become a dad for the second time, but he confesses that he doesn’t “feel like a dad,” to his first son, Tripp, with Bristol Palin.

The 21-year-old Alaskan and his pregnant girlfriend Sunny Oglesby say that she accidentally got pregnant, but that they’re hoping Tripp will be a “big brother” to the new baby.

“There was a time we went to the cabin and forgot the birth control pills and, you know, about a month later we found out we were having a baby,” Levi tells The Insider’s Brook Anderson in a new interview.

Levi says that he hasn’t seen his son with Sarah Palin’s daughter recently. “I love Tripp more than anything and he is my son but I don’t feel like a dad to him. Not by choice …hopefully one day I can be,” he says.

His girlfriend leaps to his defense, telling Brook, “I’m tired of people thinking that my boyfriend’s a bad father especially now that I’m having his baby. I don’t want people thinking that about him.”

When asked if he is a deadbeat dad, Levi denies the charge, “No, and I never will be,” he insists.

Sunny tries to explain that Levi does want to visit with his young son. “It’s really sad, his image, because it’s pretty much the complete opposite of how he is in real life. He’s an awesome dad. And he tries to get Tripp all the time,” she says.

She blames the former Vice Presidential candidate for Levi’s bad image. “It’s really sad that [The Palins have] put that image out for him cause I mean everyone’s gonna believe them because they’re more famous… you know it’s Sarah Palin and she has a lot of fans so everyone believes that and Levi really doesn’t have a chance against them.”

Levi agrees, and says he thinks Sarah is keeping him away from his son. “I think she’s, you know, she plays a big role…on Bristol you know, Bristol looks up to her and that’s a family and, you know I listen to my family, so I’m sure she does have some part of it, yeah,” he says.

[From Radar Online]

Can I say something superficial? Of course I can, it’s my job. This girl needs to stop clumping her eyelashes together. That’s not cute at all. See this product, which I bought years ago and still use.

As far as the rest of this story, it just kind of makes me sigh. We don’t know how old this chick is, but she’s probably around Levi’s age and she’s about to be saddled with a guy who can’t pay his child support on his first kid. Of course she’s defending him, and maybe she wanted to get pregnant because he seems like a great dad and is a “catch” in her neck of the woods. After all, he’s semi-famous and he probably makes a decent living selling interviews and making 2-bit appearances. Now she’s even on TV. Once that baby comes reality is going to set in though, and it’s not going to be the staged E! kind that she gets paid for. Bristol already has that market cornered.