Credit: Janet Mayer/INSTARimages.com, Image Press Agency
Bethenny Frankel reacted to Bad Bunny‘s Super Bowl Halftime show in a since-deleted TikTok clip in which she questioned whether political and cultural views should be brought into entertainment.
As her fellow Real Housewives alums, including Jill Zarin, 62, and Taylor Armstrong, 54, faced major backlash for their critical reactions to the show, the 55-year-old former Real Housewives of New York City star posted a message of her own, first joking, “[I] can’t wait to get canceled.”
“The question remains, should these entertainment vehicles, whether the Grammys, the Emmys, the Oscars, the Super Bowl, should this be the place for personal, cultural, political views to be expressed?” Bethenny asked in the clip, via Ellie Fanta on TikTok. “Certainly, there are major world events that take place, whether COVID or tragedies, 911, and it’s unavoidable that it’s discussed. But where is the line?”
Reflecting on how celebrities like Dave Chappelle, 52, Richard Gere, 76, and Billie Eilish, 24, have come under fire for speaking about their views on entertainment shows, Bethenny continued to ask, “Where is the line?”
“Kelly Ripa and [Mark Consuelos], for example, that show, no one’s allowed to express any opinions about anything going on. They barely can discuss anything going on. It’s just, it’s an entertainment vehicle, and they keep it that way,” Bethenny noted.
“So I’m asking you, where is the line?” she added.
@elliefantaa #bethennyfrankel #badbunny #superbowl #halftimeshow ♬ original sound – EllieFanta
Fans weren’t too happy with Bethenny’s initial stance.
“‘He’s too political’ his message was literally that love is stronger than hate 😭,” wrote one person.
“Stopped following her when I saw this. I used to really love her,” added a former fan.
“She never mentioned Trump/GOP/TPUSA making it political… and that was before the performance 🎭,” said a commenter.
After sharing her initial video, Bethenny deleted it and posted a second in which she seemed to change her tune.
“So my take on Bad Bunny and his performance at the Super Bowl is that he is an artist expressing himself, his music, and his experience as a Puerto Rican man in America,” Bethenny shared in an also-deleted clip, via Page Six. “Bad Bunny is a Puerto Rican man in America on the largest stage in the world — which is very inspirational to people because that is him expressing his experience in his first language.”
“Madonna said it best: Express yourself,” she concluded.
But users online took note of her backpeddling and accused her of previously “tearing the performance apart.”
“That’s right. You better walk it back quick!” one person stated.
“Nahh put your original video back up,” shared another.
Following Jill and Taylor’s postings against Bad Bunny and the Super Bowl Halftime show, Andy Cohen, 57, spoke out on his SiriusXM radio show, Andy Cohen Live, where he reminded his listeners that neither woman is currently employed by Bravo. He directed them to “call E!,” which recently announced a new show, The Golden Life, starring Jill and other RHONY OGs.