Fans finally got a look at the on-air fight between The Real Housewives of Atlanta reality stars Porsha Williams and Kenya Moore, but as it turns out, the Bravo television special caused more viewers to side with Porsha and even slam the network for hypocrisy.
When news broke that Porsha dragged Kenya by her hair during taping of the reunion show, many viewers took to their social media accounts to bash Porsha for becoming physical with her co-star.
Blogs and online petitions were created in the name of booting Porsha from the show.
Now all that has changed.
The first part of the reunion, aired on Sunday night, showed Kenya provoking Porsha with props and below-the-belt accusations that she cheated on her ex-husband Kordell Stewart.
Immediately after the fight, Porsha had a tearful breakdown, screaming that she embarrassed herself on television by letting Kenya push her to that point.
After the show was over, there seemed to be a huge swing in public opinion.
“It shouldn’t have gotten violent but kenya b pushing tht girl!,” one user tweeted with the hashtag #IStandWithPorsha.
Another tweet read, “#IStandWithPorsha because you not gon stick a bullhorn in my face but so many times before you get some of my nail polish in ur eyes.”
Others felt as if Bravo truly dropped the ball and slammed the network as being “hypocritical.”
“This is so hypocritical! You let Kenya on w/ a megaphone! Bravo what did you THINK was gonna happen,” one user tweeted before following up with, “Bravo got EXACTLY what they wnted. Blieve they were JUMPING FOR JOY at tht fight #disgusting.”
Rumors have surfaced that Porsha will be fired from the show and fans are clearly upset about it because that rule hasn’t been enforced for so many other reality stars.
Even the show’s creator Andy Cohen received some serious backlash for the way he handled the situation afterward.
He apologized to Kenya for the way things happened, while Porsha was asked not to return to the set.
“And thumbs down to @andy for not holding Kenya accountable for ANY of her antics,” one tweet read that gained over 50 retweets.
While the network claims it is taking a stand against violence on its reality series, there seemed to be a disconnect between that message and the promotion during the show.
The preview before every commercial break during the reunion special showed Porsha and Kenya about to fight, making it the focal point of the show.
Attacking Kenya is still far from acceptable behavior, but whether Bravo and Andy Cohen need to be held accountable for what happened remains up for debate.
No official statement has been released regarding Porsha’s future on the show, but based on how quickly #IStandWithPorsha began trending nationwide, Bravo will certainly have to activate serious damage control if Porsha isn’t back for the next season.
