The internet is happily upvoting a Reddit thread that shows Jo-Ellen Tiberi of The Real Housewives of Rhode Island liking some anti-LGBTQ+ social media posts by President Donald Trump's oldest child, Donald J. Trump, Jr.
And those likes have lit a firestorm of comments from RHORI fans, especially the gay ones.
"Jo-Ellen is so disappointing on this," wrote one out gay user with the handle Budget-Purple-6519, a top poster in the Bravo Real Housewives channel. "As a gay man who otherwise enjoyed her on RHORI, I hate that she canāt seem to see my community in the positive light that it should be seen. She should be asked about this by an interviewer, and made to account for it."
One of the DJTJ memes the post on Reddit shows Tiberi liked complains that veterans only get one day of recognition while Pride gets an entire month, which isn't actually true. Another mocks the transgender community, while there's also one denigrating nonbinary individuals for using "they/them" pronouns. Still another puts down anyone who supports the reality that some trans men menstruate.
From Reddit thread showing social media posts by Donald J. Trump, Jr., liked by Jo-Ellen Tiberi,
Of course, it's well-known that we remember all veterans on the 11th day of the 11th month every year, on the federal holiday of Veterans Day. There's also Memorial Day to honor the fallen and Armed Forces Day on the third Saturday in May. And the entire month of May is dedicated by the U.S. government as National Military Appreciation Month. All of these are set aside to pay tribute to all branches of the U.S. military, including those who are serving who are LGBTQ+.
Making these points is former TV journalist Kezhal Dashti, who posted a video to her 11.5K Instagram followers in which she reported Tiberi attended Pride events to promote the RHORI show prior to this backlash.
"It's really just shocking because Jo-Ellen recently attended Pride Drag Brunch events just last month to promote The Real Housewives of Rhode Island," Dashti said in her video. One attendee at that brunch tells Out that Tiberi admitted during the event that she had never attended a drag brunch before.
"One event was clearly so successful, they added a second date. So naturally, fans are questioning whether those public appearances line up with the social media activity that's now surfacing. And we've actually seen Bravo go down this road before. Just last season on Real Housewives of Orange County, Gretchen Rossi was questioned over those homophobic social media posts that she liked," she said, adding that Tiberi has not commented on the controversy or clarified her perspective on LGBTQ+ rights.
Rossi addressed the controversy in a Bravo video interview shared on Instagram last October.
Some Reddit users also targeted Bravo's Andy Cohen, the out host of the Real Housewives franchise as well as its creator and executive producer.
"I feel like all the homophobes cherry pick which gays theyāre 'ok with' and which ones they decide to categorize as 'agenda havers'. Like, Andy..hello?" said Reddit user plum-apple. "I wish heād call this shit out more. Iād love to see jo ellen go pale when confronted with this shit by Andy. Who is definitely a gay she 'accepts. Let alone provides her with relevanceā¦and a paycheck."
"But how will Andy make money if he did that?" said 00MyPet Peeve.
A user with the handle, 6FeetOfGarbage summed up what a lot of viewers might be thinking: "God I would pay so much money to watch him ask her this on WWHL (Watch What Happens Live)."
Out reached out to Bravo executives for comment but did not receive a response as of press time.
