‘RHOC’ Alum Kelly Dodd Doesn’t Want to Be Lumped With Fired ‘RHOSLC’ Star Jennie Nguyen
Kelly Dodd is one of the former stars of The Real Housewives of Orange County. The entrepreneur was recently axed from the franchise following a reboot of the reality series and a year of controversial statements she made. Recently, Bravo fired Jennie Nguyen from The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City over Facebook posts that were anti-Black Lives Matter. However, Dodd doesn’t want to be lumped in with Nguyen.
Kelly Dodd talks about the Jennie Nguyen controversy
Dodd’s tenure as a housewife on RHOC came to an end after season 15 following a controversial year. The former Bravo star poked fun of the pandemic, was against the coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccines, and was even accused of making light of the BLM movement.
Following the controversy around the RHOSLC star Nguyen and being axed from the show for her racist Facebook posts, Dodd doesn’t want to be grouped with her.
“Don’t lump me in with this chick,” she said on the Rick & Kelly Unmasked podcast. “I don’t know her and I’m not getting involved in what she did or didn’t say. I don’t know if she’s racist but I do know I am not!”
Dodd also said, “I know what racism feels like. I grew up Mexican on the west side of Phoenix with a very diverse group of friends, and I still have a very diverse group of friends.”
In regard to Nguyen being cut from RHOSLC, Dodd said that it was a decision only Bravo and Andy Cohen would make looking out for their “brand and their business.”
Bravo’s statement regarding Jennie Nguyen
After all of Nguyen’s RHOSLC co-stars released a statement condemning her Facebook posts, Bravo finally released one of its own. In the message posted on Instagram, the cable network confirmed that they had stopped filming with Nguyen, despite only having started production a few days ago. It was reported, originally, that filming had continued with Nguyen even after the backlash but that decision was reversed days later.
“Bravo has ceased filming with Jennie Nguyen and she will no longer be a cast of The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City,” the statement from the network read. “We recognize we failed to take appropriate action once her offensive social media posts were brought to our attention. Moving forward we will work to improve our processes to ensure we make better informed and more thoughtful casting decisions.”
In her apology, Nguyen said that the posts were on a Facebook account that had been deactivated. She said that she thought she “was speaking out against violence.”
“I have since learned how offensive and hurtful my words were,” she said in the statement posted on Instagram. “It’s why I deactivated that account more than a year ago and why I continue to try to learn about perspectives different from my own. I regret those posts and am sincerely sorry for the pain they caused.”
Lisa Barlow was ‘surprised’ by Jennie Nguyen’s posts
At the beginning of RHOSLC Season 2, Nguyen was introduced as a friend of Lisa Barlow. The latter had known Nguyen for many years prior to the show. When Barlow made an appearance on Watch What Happens Live, she was asked by Cohen if she had seen these Facebook posts.
“I haven’t looked at Jennie’s Facebook page in years but I was totally surprised… I was very surprised,” she said.
Barlow also said that she is “completely anti-racist” and hopes that “everyone does better.”
