Steven McBee Jr. is responding to Southern Charm star Salley Carson after she recently described a trip to Missouri in a way that left viewers with the impression she was desperate to get out of the situation.

During an exclusive interview with the Roxanne and Shantel podcast, we asked Steven directly about Salley’s comments and her claim that Craig Conover helped her leave.

“So Salley from Southern Charm, she recently spoke out about the time that she spent with you, and said that she wanted to leave so badly that Craig helped her get out of the situation. What was your reaction to hearing her describe it that way? What happened?” we asked.

Steven said his first reaction was frustration because he considered Salley a friend and says the trip she referenced was not even her first time visiting Missouri.

“Well, frustration, because I like Salley as a friend. We’re very, very different. Obviously at the time we had been hanging out, that was not her first weekend out in Missouri. And it just felt like, okay, like, why kick a dog while he’s down, you know?” Steven said.

Steven explained that the word “terrified” especially bothered him because of the other controversy surrounding him at the time.

“Like I was already taking the heat from the internet over the Allie situation. And then she uses the word terrified, which, given the context of everything that Allie had been saying, and obviously, you know, what I said in those text messages, terrified has a new connotation. And it’s like, okay, come on now.”

Steven disputed the idea that Salley had been terrified during her time with the McBees and said there are videos from the visit that he believes tell a different story.

“You had a great time when you were out here. Yes, we’re completely different. Like very different, but terrified? No. Cole and Kacie have videos of you having a blast. I’m cooking hibachi dinner at my brother Jesse and Allie’s house with Saley right there. We’re all wearing the little, you know, chef hats. Like, it was a great time. And so I didn’t really know how to react to that.”

Steven also revealed that his confusion stemmed from the fact that he and Salley had continued communicating positively after the Missouri trip.

According to Steven, Salley had been nervous about how her season of Southern Charm was going to come across, so when the trailer dropped, he reached out to support her.

“In fact, I had texted Saley when their season of Southern Charm dropped because she was nervous. She had been talking to me about how nervous she was because she didn’t know what it was going to look like,” Steven explained.

“Their trailer dropped, the day their trailer dropped, I wanted to be a supportive friend. This was mid-October, so a couple weeks after that weekend whenever Craig had the event in Hamilton and Saley was out here. And I texted her and I was like, ‘Hey, I just want you to know, I watched the trailer. It didn’t look that bad. Like, you have nothing to worry about. And let’s face it, if you don’t have a personality, no one’s going to be talking about you. So at least you have a personality.’”

Steven claims Salley responded warmly.

“She texted me back saying, ‘Oh, thank you so much. I appreciate that. I miss you. Can I see you soon?’” Steven said, before asking, “Does that sound like someone that’s terrified or had a terrifying experience two weeks earlier?”

We then asked whether Salley had ever apologized for the comments.

Steven said she did, but privately.

According to Steven, Cole McBee initially commented on the post questioning Salley’s version of events, and Salley subsequently sent Cole a private message.

“So Cole commented on that post and it was like, ‘Oh, Saley, why are you lying? You were just out here, you know, a month before this and you had a great time. Kacie and I both have videos and photos of you having a blast out here. Why would you lie?’”

Steven then described what Salley allegedly told Cole privately.

“And she DM’d him saying, ‘Sorry that, you know, this is my first podcast. A lot of times, like, you just say things, we’re talking and you get on a ramble or you try to make a joke and it comes across the wrong way,’ which I understand that,” Steven said.

Steven acknowledged that he understands how easy it can be for something said casually on a podcast to take on a different meaning once it becomes public.

“I completely get that. It is very true. Sometimes you speak without truly thinking on a podcast, without understanding the ramifications,” he said.

But he added that he particularly wished Salley had not used the word “terrified.”

“I really wish the word terrified was not said. In the context of what I’ve been going through, that was like the worst thing possible.”

Steven said he initially planned to let the situation go, but after sitting with it for a few days, he decided to text Saley himself.

“I sat on it for a few days and I was like, you know what? I’m just gonna let it pass. And then I did end up texting her and I was just like, ‘Hey, like, I’m going to be honest. I’m very disappointed.’ I said, ‘I’m not mad. I’m just really disappointed because I thought we had a mutual respect.’”

Steven explained that he had always spoken positively about Salley when asked about her publicly.

“I get asked about you a lot in interviews because obviously there was photos of us hanging out together, and I do nothing but speak positively about her because we had a great time. She’s a blast to be around, like, truly a really fun kind of person. But we’re very different. And so there’s just no need to, like, speak negatively about someone. Just speak positive. And that’s what I’ve done in interviews about her.”

Steven said that history made her comments especially confusing for him.

“So for her to come out on the podcast, in light of everything I was going through at the time and say that, I was just like, ‘I’m just really disappointed and confused because, you know, I’ve done nothing but speak positive about you.’ You hung out with my brothers at BravoCon. Like, it was Jesse, Cole and Saley that were hanging out at BravoCon having a great time, and I was with Allie. And so that’s why we were just all really confused.”

According to Steven, Salley then apologized directly to him and even offered to address it publicly.

“She texted me back saying, ‘I’m so sorry. Like, I will go on my Instagram and post an apology and say, you know, that’s not what I meant at all. I had a great time. Like, whatever you want me to do.’”

Steven says he declined.

“And I was just like, ‘No, you know, it’s not a big deal. I appreciate the apology. It’s like, I just, it’s just disappointing.’”

Steven said that despite the situation, his main goal is not to continue creating new public back-and-forth.

“The biggest thing for me is I just want to move on with my life. And so anytime there’s any response from me or there’s any follow-up to any of these things that are said, inherently eyeballs are drawn to it,” Steven explained. “Sometimes it sucks to be in the public eye. I will not lie.”

Steven’s full interview with Roxanne and Shantel is available now.