Credit: Instagram
Gretchen Rossi is clapping back after facing backlash online for seemingly being caught “liking” homophobic posts on Instagram.
After a Bravo fan page shared screenshots of the 46-year-old Real Housewives of Orange County star allegedly “liking” a couple of posts, one of which promoted Gay Pride Month, Gretchen, who, along with her longtime fiance, Slade Smiley, 51, received death threats as a result of the images, slammed the screenshots as fakes.
“[Gretchen Rossi] your soul is about as authentic as the facetune you put over yourself in every picture. GTFO,” The Real Housemates of New York wrote on Instagram on September 6, along with a series of screenshots of Gretchen’s alleged “likes.”
“Hey MAGA Barbie, you can just go f*ck right off with your blatant homophobia,” read an additional caption with the post.
In the first screenshot, Gretchen allegedly liked a message that spoke out against Gay Pride Month.
“I’d rather have a whole month dedicated to the people that have lost their lives fighting for our freedom instead of having a month of celebrating your preference in the bedroom,” the post read.
A second, originally shared on X, said, “When you opened the door to homosexuality, you opened the door to pedophilia. You’ll never win by normalizing perversion!”
After the Bravo fan page shared the post, a number of people responded, some of whom noticed that Tamra Judge, 58, and Katie Ginella, 41, had “liked” the post.
“They have our backs … Please bring this up at reunion!!!!! [Andy Cohen],” they wrote.
Another commenter called for Andy, 57, to fire Gretchen.
“Please do the right thing and remove [Gretchen Rossi] from RHOC. We don’t need her homophobia on our TVs,” they declared.
Someone else tagged Heather Dubrow, who has kids in the LGBT community, and said, “[Heather Dubrow] these are your friends I can just imagine what they say about your children.”
Others encouraged her castmates to “hold her accountable!!!!!!!!!!”
But according to Gretchen, the screenshots are fake.
“It’s my understanding that there is a small group of Housewives fan sites and blogs passing a story around that I allegedly liked highly offensive posts. This is false, those are manipulated screenshots meant to cause harm to my reputation and bring attention to themselves. I firmly stand against any form of hatred and bigotry and have always fully supported the LGBTQ+ community,” she said in a statement to The U.S. Sun.
She and Slade also hired private investigator Andy Kay, of Kay and Associates Investigations, to look into the origin of the posts.
“After reviewing the posts in my professional option they appear to be altered,” Andy shared. “We have been seeing more and more cyber bullying and Instagram posts being manipulated and used against victims especially during this heated political climate. This appears to be a perfect example of the dangerous effects these falsified posts can have on a person’s reputation and safety.”
“We will work on this case and do a deep dive investigation because we believe that people deserve reputation security and protections from false accusations. This is crucial,” he added.
Members of the LGBT community also spoke out in her defense.
“Having been friends with Gretchen for over 15 years it’s mind-boggling to me how she could ever be accused of hate for the LGBT community and people believe that,” one insider explained. “In fact, it’s the opposite, she always surrounds herself with her many incredibly loving gay friends in her community.”
The source went on to note that Gretchen has done a lot to make a difference in the gay community.
“For Gretchen who truly loves and supports the gay community these accusations are devastating. And the death threats and backlash are even worse,” they stated.
Pop artist and drag queen Sham Ibraham also weighed in.
“The presumption that Gretchen has a homophobic bone in her body is preposterous. I have known her for over a decade, long before it was popular to support the LGBT community. She has only ever shown me love and surrounded herself in full support of the LGBT community,” they said. “These accusations are very dangerous during this heated political climate – and in turn it threatens Gretchen’s reputation and safety.”
The Real Housewives of Orange County season 19 airs Thursdays at 8/7c on Bravo.