This week, news that Kenya Moore would not be returning to season 16 of Real Housewives of Atlanta sent shockwaves through the Bravo community, stunning network stars and fans alike. The discontinuation of her being on the show followed rumours of her circulating sexually explicit posters that featured a new cast member, Brittany Eady, during the grand opening of her salon. I first wrote about the debacle here.
There’s a few reasons this is a big – and I mean big – deal. First, Kenya is the longest-standing peach holder in the franchise. Shakeups to the cast in recent years saw the temporary departure of Porsha Williams, who is set to return next season and bring loads of drama surrounding her separation from Simon Guobadia, whom she wed in a very luxe ceremony last year, which I wrote about here. It also brought the departure of the most iconic Real Housewife to ever exist, NeNe Leakes, who fans have hoped and speculated would make a triumphant return. And recently, it was announced that franchise OG Kandi Burruss would not be returning to the show. This means that of last season’s cast, only Drew Sidora is remaining – and I speak for all of the galaxy when I say no one that watches the show had that on their Bingo card.
The other reason it’s a big deal is because of the many stories and theories surrounding the incident. Believe me, I have spent a shameful amount of hours trying to piece this together and figure out what actually happened the night of June 6 when cameras were rolling at the salon grand opening. But there doesn’t seem to be one consistent story. Only mentions of a gun, reports that Kenya was fearful for her safety, and a host of other allegations that have yet to be confirmed or denied.
But by far, what makes this the big deal that it is is the timing of it all. Because just this week, there was an explosive physical altercation on Sunday’s episode of Real Housewives of New Jersey – and fans are asking why there was no consequence in that instance like what we saw with Kenya.
First, all of this begs the question of whether Kenya was fired or made the choice to abandon filming on her own accord. According to some of what she’s said in social media statements, she made the choice to walk away after being suspended. She also swears that she did not engage in the distribution of revenge porn.
These two things are important and kind of go hand in hand. They’re important because if this comparison between the white and Black casts is being made (which it feels like it always is), what we know for a fact is that there was a physical altercation on Real Housewives of New Jersey. We all saw it unfold. But if Kenya is saying that this whole revenge porn thing didn’t even happen – how, then, did we end up at one of the longest-standing cast members in the entire franchise being discontinued, whether on her own accord or not, from filming season 16? It kind of hints to me that she may have walked away on her own, frustrated over the accusations, the suspension, and years of subpar treatment we’ve seen Black housewives endure compared to their white counterparts, the double standard for which I’ve written about in the past.
It’s got to the point that former Real Housewives are speaking up for Kenya, including her good friend Kandi Burruss and…well, Brandi Glanville. It makes sense that both of these women are coming to her defense. First, Kandi has spent years filming with Kenya. And secondly, with Brandi having beef with Bravo, anything that pads her claims against the network is better for her. But for Kandi, she’s aware of the moves Kenya makes, which, she insists, the accusations don’t necessarily fall in line with. During a recent Amazon Live, she expressed sadness over Kenya’s departure from the show to fans who asked about her take on the situation.
“Unfortunately my girl Kenya was a part of this season and there was an incident that happened — I wasn't there, I can't give you details of what happened, but it makes me sad,” she said. “I'm not lying about how I feel because she is my friend, I do love her. I do not know the other young lady so it's not a diss to her.”
As always, Kandi remained diplomatic and respectful in her response, and we love that, but it does nothing in helping us try to piece together the mystery of the events that unfolded. But, Kandi did acknowledge Kenya’s history of, well, going there. During the live, she admitted that Kenya “goes far sometimes,” but that she has “never known Kenya to make up anything about anybody.” Kandi is saying a lot without saying a lot.
“I don't care who disagrees, I feel like it's the end of an era,” she said. “It doesn't matter if you didn't like her or whatever. You're always gonna need somebody who doesn’t mind being real and keeping it 100 on camera — pushing the story — meaning bringing up things that other people are trying to avoid.”
This is absolutely, categorically correct. This is why the messiest housewives are often the most prolific, and this is what’s been lost from a lot of the shows in recent years. Prior to the franchise becoming as big as it is today with blogs and Page Six scoping out every little like and unfollow, I found that the women were a lot less unafraid to lay it all out. There were far less repercussions back then than there are now. And it’s cost the show some of its candour, of which Kenya has a lot.
But back to the Real Housewives of New Jersey fight. I hate to glorify violence, but given that no one was seriously injured, I want to be clear in saying that this was the closest thing we’ve had to the disputes we saw back in the early 2010s. There was an invasion of personal space, there was the word “motherf—er” uttered about 18 times, there was a glass thrown, and there was just sheer chaos. It was reminiscent of that night Ashley Holmes ripped Danielle Staub’s extensions out of her head back in 2009 – or was it 2010?
Since that incident, and even before it, the cast of RHONJ have had a long history of being one of the more physical casts. They’re not afraid to flip tables, not afraid of getting in each other’s faces, not afraid of fighting dirty. Yet, the question on everyone’s mind this past week was, why have there been such few repercussions for that cast while Kenya showing what is reported to be a “public image” results in her departure from the show?
These are all questions that are two things – fair and obvious. And it follows the network’s pattern of giving preferential treatment to certain castmates over others. But that’s why one of the single most important factors in deciding what the implications of all of this really are come down to whether Kenya walked away on her own – which, I believe she did. Because she’s f-cking Kenya Moore.
