The Real Housewives shows are always packed with drama, but now some controversy outside of when the cameras are rolling has resulted in a big change for the Salt Lake City branch of the hit Bravo franchise. Jennie Nguyen, who has made headlines recently for some social media posts that resurfaced, has now been fired from The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City.
Jennie Nguyen’s Facebook posts (which have since been deleted) that have led to her firing were written in 2020 and reportedly referred to Black Lives Matter protesters as “thugs” and included racist memes and pro-police comments (via THR), and Bravo has now made the move to fire the cast member. The network announced the decision on Twitter, saying:
Bravo has ceased filming with Jennie Nguyen and she will no longer be a cast member of ‘The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City.’ We recognize that 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.
The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City is currently filming its third season for Bravo, with the cast now comprised of Heather Gay, Whitney Rose, Jen Shah, Meredith Marks, and Lisa Barlow. With the reveal that the show has "ceased filming" with her, the question is of whether the third season will need to be completely retooled to cut Jennie Nguyen entirely, the third season will cover the controversy on camera and it will be included in the show, or another option to handle the firing in the show.
Real Housewives of Salt Lake City is currently airing its second season that features Nguyen; with filming obviously complete on Season 2, Bravo will have to either continue with Nguyen's storyline as already completed or recut the episodes to remove her. The franchise is no stranger to airing controversies as part of the episodes, but Bravo's admission of failing to "take appropriate action" may mean that the network will want to cut its losses. At this point, we can only speculate.
The writing seemed to be on the wall for Jennie Nguyen as part of the Real Housewives franchise even before the official news of her firing, although she did post an apology on her Instagram account the week before Bravo made its announcement. She wrote:
I want to acknowledge and apologize for my deleted Facebook posts from 2020 that resurfaced today. At the time, I thought I was speaking out against violence, but I have since learned how offensive and hurtful my words were. 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.
Jennie Nguyen was new to RHOSLC in Season 2, and her casting was announced back in 2021. She used the hashtag of #hateisavirus on her Instagram post, although comments were disabled, so it's not apparent on that platform what fans of the show thought of her apology. One person who did speak out (very publicly) was Nguyen's now former castmate, Jen Shah, who has generated her own share of controversy with the highly-publicized allegations of fraud, which hit another setback back in December after she filed for her fraud charges to be dismissed. Shah dismissed Nguyen's apology as "disingenuous" and stated that her Facebook comments were "infuriating."
Nguyen may not be the only Real Housewives of Salt Lake City cast member to leave the show, as Mary Cosby reportedly has not filmed for Season 3 after not attending the reunion taping, with Andy Cohen later providing an explanation for her absence without confirming a departure. She too has been under fire for some racially controversial comments, although those comments were made on the show, not via past social media comments like the situation with Nguyen.
Find out how The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City handles Jennie Nguyen's appearances in Season 2 episodes (or doesn't handle) with new episodes on Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on Bravo. If you're in the market for more viewing options moving forward on the small screen, be sure to check out our 2022 TV schedule.
