Real housewives, uneven boundaries

Real Housewives of Atlanta star Kenya Moore is speaking up after being suspended indefinitely from filming after an alleged revenge porn incident that took place while cameras were rolling. 

On Friday, she went live on Instagram, slamming people for false bookings, tarnishing the name of her business and stalking her. She says that some of this comes with the territory of being on reality TV, while much of it is unwarranted.

Fans say her Instagram live was more about her offering a virtual tour of Kenya Moore Hair Spa than it was about addressing the incident that prompted her to be suspended indefinitely from filming – which was her reportedly putting posters of new castmate Brittany Eady allegedly performing oral sex on display at the grand opening of the spa.

There are conflicting reports surrounding the photos. Some suggest the photos are readily available online, while other social media users suggest that the photos were clearly fake and photoshopped. The debacle is shining a light on how instances involving revenge porn are treated during filming, with several fans pointing to past instances, questioning whether there’s a double standard.

Bravo fan accounts pulled up this clip of Joe Gorga and a group of men from Real Housewives of New Jersey watching former castmate Danielle Staub allegedly having sex on camera. They passed the phone showing the video around and remarked on her body, and the comments were then repeated by the women, becoming a big topic of conversation. There were no penalties in this situation. 

In the wake of Kenya’s suspension and this clip resurfacing, Danielle spoke out about her experience with having her video be watched on the show, responding to a comment on X, saying: 

Fan accounts also pointed to Scandoval, suggesting that both Ariana and Tom were complicit in the sharing of revenge porn, because of videos that were shared amongst the friend group from Vanderpump Rules. This, along with a claim over invasion of privacy, became the basis for Rachel’s lawsuit against the pair, which I wrote about here. 

And fans also suggested that a disturbing incident on Southern Charm should most definitely be considered as revenge porn. Last season, show creator and executive producer Whitney Sudler-Smith showed a nude photo of cast member Taylor Ann Green to the men in the group, along with his mom, Patricia Altschul, who frequently appears on the show. 

Earlier this year, Taylor spoke about the photo on The Viall Files, saying she is deeply regretful about sending it, which she says she only did to get the attention of her ex, Shep Rose, a cast mate and friend of Whitney. She said she found it “truly unfortunate” that the photo was talked about on camera rather than being dealt with and discussed privately off-camera.

“That was flat-out because I was coming after Shep. I just heard things about them. It’s my toxic side. I regret it a million times over,” she said. 

In response to the posters Kenya is alleged to have put up in her hair spa, Brittany wasn’t at the grand opening, but since the story has exploded, she had this to say:

To be clear, none of this is to say that Kenya shouldn’t have been suspended indefinitely from filming. If the allegations that she put explicit images of Brittany up in her spa are true, it’s completely warranted, and perhaps a harsher penalty would even make sense. But it is to say that there is a real need for more consistency in punishments for cast members who get out of line – along with clearer definitions of what and where those lines lie.

Neither Joe Gorga, Tom Sandoval, Ariana Madix or Whitney Sudler-Smith received any form of penalty for distributing or sharing revenge porn, which, in each respective case, has been admitted to by each of them either on camera, in reunions or group chats.

I’ve written before about the lack of boundaries and clearly defined workplace rules that exist for reality TV, which is still very much the wild west. The rules that govern typical places of work just about cease to exist in these environments, making it fertile ground for insane scenarios like this one to take place.

But the problem is that more often than not, these insane scenarios make for great TV. And with Real Housewives of Atlanta going through a bit of a rebirth with the return of OG Porsha Williams after viewer complaints of the last few seasons being dull, my concern is that Kenya’s punishment is to muster up as much excitement as possible for the new season, rather than set the tone for behaviour we’ve already seen and will likely see again. And these boundaries should’ve been set a long time ago.

Why else would Kenya be subjected to penalties that her white colleagues were able to avoid? Despite the similarities in the alleged offences they committed? Particularly in the wake of a bevy of lawsuits Bravo is facing over claims of discrimination. 

Bravo has got to work on coming up with a clearer framework surrounding what will and will not be tolerated during and outside of filming. Fans have even suggested that the cast not be able to post on social media until the season airs, much like we see with shows like Big Brother, The Bachelor and others – an interesting suggestion considering we wouldn’t have known any of this was happening during filming if it weren’t for a) leaks on social media (likely from production and event attendees), and b) Brittany and Kenya speaking out about what took place. But again, the social media activity also drums up a lot of anticipation for the season. So why would producers put a stop to it? 

Once again, Bravo is at a crossroads that comes down to ethics, but race, gender and favoritism politics seem to be at play yet again. How the network navigates this debacle will remind everyone, viewers and stars alike, where it stands on all of it.