‘RHOA’: Nene Leakes Fires Back at Kenya Moore and Says She’s the ‘Demise of the Show’

NeNe Leakes and Kenya Moore are feuding on The Real Housewives of Atlanta. They have always had a tense relationship and they have never been close friends. Over the years they’ve been on the Bravo reality series, they’ve been cordial and have tolerated each other. Season 12 of the show has them at odds once again and they can’t seem to come to common ground.

How did NeNe Leakes reply to Kenya Moore?

After Moore insinuated that Leakes was getting phased out of RHOA because she’s been cut from the episodes, the Broadway star is firing back.

“How does she know? I mean, does she… is she in production?” Leakes asked during an interview with Entertainment Tonight. “I think that she would love for me to be gone, so she could be, in her mind, the head of the show, or the queen of the show, or the one that everyone is talking about. With me there, it’s very difficult for her to have that kind of thing. So, I also think that, if I leave the show and Kenya stays on the show, she will be the demise of the show.”

Leakes has been with RHOA since the very first season, and although she did leave the franchise for a couple of seasons, she returned. The New Normal alum said that if her time was up on the show she would “absolutely have no problem with that because the show has been good” to her. Leakes acknowledges that Moore might be threatened by her presence.

“I think sometimes when you’re that personality, that’s powerful — like me, you’ve been there since day one — I feel like I’m a threat to certain girls,” Leakes added. “I don’t know why, because I personally think that everybody has their own lane. The problem is, don’t you cross over in my lane. Stay over there. We don’t want to have a car crash! Stay in your lane, girl.”

Why does Kenya Moore think NeNe Leakes is getting phased out?

The former beauty queen essentially said that she believed Leakes was getting fired from RHOA.

“She tries so hard to tell people she’s the HBIC,” Moore told Entertainment Tonight. “She’s the this, she’s the that. She’s the originator. ‘Oh, the real premiere just starts…’ And in fact, her presence now is not impactful at all. She’s missed out on at least four to five episodes this season, so that clearly means the network is sending you a message. You’re not as important as you think you are.”

Leakes has been feuding with the majority of the cast and has spent season 12 trying to repair her friendships. Moore believes that Leakes is not interesting to the show anymore.

“The message is very clear: either the network feels that you are still a valuable asset on the show or they don’t, and you’re replaced and phased out, and you just have to move on,” Moore continued. “NeNe has been on the show for a very long time, and I just think the cast is not gelling with her. She always puts herself on an island. She makes these fights with people that don’t actually have to occur and she’s really the cause of her own demise.”

Andy Cohen weighs in

During an appearance on Watch What Happens Live, Andy Cohen read a tweet from Leakes where she asked Moore to explain her allegations.

“Here’s a [question] for [Kenya] Andy,” Leakes tweeted. “Ask hey [why] she is out [doing] press [saying] Bravo is [phasing] me out. Bravo hasn’t told me or my team that. Why is she out sayin’ I have lost money from not being [in] episodes. I negotiated my episodes and money upfront. I have not lost anything.”

Moore responded by saying that she would need to ask Bravo why she was not on many of the episodes. That is when Cohen weighed in and dropped his intel on Moore and all the RHOA fans.

“I don’t think she’s being cut out of episodes because I think everything that was shot with NeNe is in the show. We’re not cutting anything out,” Cohen explained leaving Moore speechless. “Everything that we shot… there’s nothing that’s been left out.”

After Cohen’s response, Leakes took to Twitter to explain: “I have not been cut out of any episodes. I negotiated my episodes just like everyone else did. I’m getting every dime I asked for. Thank you for asking and clearing that up Andy, that means a lot to me.”

The Real Housewives of Atlanta airs Sunday nights at 8 p.m. ET on Bravo.