Andy Cohen has defended Bravo's conservative Real Housewives stars after backlash from the franchise's liberal fanbase. The 58-year-old Bravo executive was hosting a Q&A on Threads when a viewer asked, "Why so many MAGA women? I can't watch [Real Housewives of Orange County] because of them."
Cohen responded, "If we didn't showcase people with different POVs there would be no show. Also it's a show about the women and their relationships, not about politics." He also defended the network's decision to bring original RHOC star Vicki Gunvalson back to the franchise this year, saying, "I think she's great this season."
Long-running RHOC star Tamra Judge then jumped into the exchange, posting, "This Housewife is not MAGA!" Orange County is one of California's more conservative counties, especially compared to its liberal neighbor Los Angeles.
A history of Republican cast members
Many of the show's cast members are openly Republican or have been in the past. The original cast featured several openly Republican members, including Jeana Keough, Lauri Peterson and Gunvalson. Other cast members, like Gretchen Rossi and Kelly Dodd, are proudly MAGA and have supported President Donald Trump.
Emily Simpson was also a Trump supporter at one time, but recently denounced the MAGA movement on social media, writing, "I have strong values and that makes me inherently anti-MAGA."
Kelly Dodd's firing from RHOC
Dodd was fired from the Real Housewives of Orange County in 2021 following backlash from viewers over her personal politics and social media activity. Her gravest offence, according to many liberal Bravo fans, was briefly wearing a novelty baseball cap at her bridal shower in 2020 that said "Drunk Wives Matter" during the height of the Black Lives Matter movement.
She quickly apologized, insisting she supported "Black lives and racial equality" and that the hat was simply a "play on words" related to being a Real Housewife that "might be drunk once in a while." Dodd found herself in trouble again when she made several controversial remarks during the Covid pandemic, including not wanting to wear a mask.
Although she issued multiple apologies and retracted her statements at the time, Dodd was still fired from the series.
Dodd's political turn and new podcast
Reflecting on her firing in a 2026 interview on The Jamie Kennedy podcast, Dodd said, "I feel like if you don't believe along the same lines they do, they don't like you." She continued, "I feel that I'm getting politically discriminated against."
Dodd also reflected on leaving the Democratic party, which she has attributed to left-wing cancel culture and her experience living in China. "I was always a Democrat, my whole life, and then I moved to China, and I saw how you're not allowed to speak freely," she explained. "On Facebook, they would just watch every one of your moves. And I feel like this is where we're going. We're going into socialist communism territory, I'm telling you right now."
Dodd and her husband, former Fox News star Rick Leventhal, have rebranded themselves as conservative podcasters and now host their own show on Patreon and YouTube called The Rick & Kelly Show. Leventhal also hosts The Leventhal Report on Newsmax2.
Other MAGA-friendly Housewives
Dodd isn't the only MAGA-friendly Housewife to leave Bravo. Former Real Housewives of New Jersey star Siggy Flicker has become one of Trump's most outspoken and visible supporters. The Florida-based Flicker is friends with the president, who personally appointed her to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council.
RHONJ's Teresa Giudice also threw her support behind Trump back in 2016, though it's unclear if she still supports him.
As for Cohen himself, he is a dyed-in-the-wool Democrat and an outspoken critic of Trump. He is also best friends with CNN star Anderson Cooper, and the pair currently co-host the network's New Year's Eve coverage together each year.
