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Andy Cohen reacted to Jill Zarin’s firing, and he revealed his recent contact with her before her offensive post. He then defended Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Amanda Frances amid fan hate.
After the Super Bowl, Jill made a video criticizing Bad Bunny’s halftime show. At one point, she said there were “literally no white people,” and she complained that he was speaking Spanish. Soon after, Jill was fired from her new show on E!, which features early castmates from Real Housewives of New York. Amid the controversy, Zarin Fabrics wrote a post denouncing Jill’s video and shared a photo of Jill’s face with an X over it.
On SiriusXM’s Andy Cohen Live, Andy addressed Jill’s firing.
“We went to see & Juliet on Broadway, which Kandi Burruss is starring in. It was really fun. There were Housewives there, so Stacey Rusch was there from Potomac, Margaret was there from New Jersey, and Dolores was there from New Jersey. They were sitting right behind us, and Luann was there,” he said. “And of course all the Housewives were just talking Jill Zarin, and you know, again, I don’t really have anything to say about it besides, ‘Call E!’”
“[This is] someone who was let go in season four, talked about it with me so much on-camera, off-camera, was finally coming back [to TV], and then [this happens] a week after the announcement,” he added. “[I] will never get over the sight of the Zarin Fabrics Instagram account … posting a picture of Jill with an X over it, with an X over her face. I never thought that I would see the day.”
According to Andy, Jill recently contacted him.
“I heard from her a few weeks ago about a reunion set that she said had terrible rugs, and she was like, ‘You should get some rugs at Zarin Fabric,’” Andy recalled. “When I saw the Zarin Fabric post, I was like, ‘Oh my god, the walls are crumbling.’ I couldn’t believe it.”
Also on his radio show, Andy defended Amanda from fan backlash.
“A lot of people have been asking me [if] Amanda Frances … quit halfway through filming,” said the host. “No. She absolutely didn’t, and by the way, I think Amanda Frances is great for the show. … The Kyle [Richards] house connection blows me away. She’s like a self-made person, and I think the viewers are reacting to her; the women are reacting to her. She’s got a story to tell, and so give her a break, everybody.”
“[Someone] with a decent amount of followers tagged me in a really mean post about Amanda Frances,” he went on. “It was so mean, and I was like, ‘You know what? This woman is gonna wake up in L.A., she’s got two small kids, … she’s gonna read that and her day is going to be ruined.’ So I DM the guy, and I said, ‘You know, I love your passion for the show … but you know, these are human beings, and this is really mean.’”
Andy claimed that the guy respectfully messaged him back.
“[He] said, ‘Oh, I can’t believe that you saw that.’ … Well, I just think [this and that about her],’” Andy went on. “And I said, ‘That’s fine. You should have your opinion.’ I go, ‘But, do you realize that this person is going to wake up in an hour, or she may be up, and she’s gonna see this? … Maybe there’s another way for you to express your feelings.’ And then we went back and forth, and he deleted it. And so I hope she never saw it, but it felt good, and he was so nice. … You just have to remember these are real people.”