Andy Cohen, host of ‘Watch What Happens Live,’ defended ‘The Real Housewives’ series on Sunday against critiques of featuring ‘MAGA women.’ During a Q&A session on Threads while flying, a user questioned why there seemed to be many ‘MAGA women’ on the show, expressing discomfort with watching ‘The Real Housewives of Orange County.’
Cohen argued the show isn’t political and stressed the importance of varied perspectives. ‘If we didn’t showcase people with different POVs, there would be no show. Also, it’s about the women and their relationships, not politics,’ he wrote. Fox News Digital sought comment from NBCUniversal, Bravo TV’s parent company, but received no immediate response.
Recent years have seen several former ‘Real Housewives’ speak against criticism faced for holding conservative views. In 2021, Kelly Dodd, a former star of ‘Real Housewives of Orange County,’ was dismissed following controversial statements about COVID-19 and the Black Lives Matter movement. In a podcast interview with Jamie Kennedy, she described feeling like a victim of cancel culture, stating, ‘If you don’t believe along the same lines, they don’t like you… I feel like an outcast.’
Annemarie Wiley from ‘The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills’ also spoke to Fox News Digital after not being invited back to the show post-2024, attributing it to expressing conservative views. She claimed to receive an unfavorable edit due to her political stance. Wiley stated she was apolitical and leaned liberal before joining the show, saying, ‘I grew up in Canada. I’d been a Democrat my entire life. And then, I was forced to talk about this.’
Jill Zarin from ‘Real Housewives of New York,’ known for her links to the Trump family, criticized her Hollywood peers for their lack of support for hostages during the Israel-Hamas conflict. She expressed confusion over Hollywood’s inaction, remarking, ‘I’m sorry that Hollywood can’t even get behind getting the hostages home.’