Former “Real Housewives of Atlanta” star Nene Leakes took to her Instagram Story on Oct. 25 to address a report that “Dancing with the Stars” host Tyra Banks supposedly has banned “Housewives” from joining the hit ABC dance competition series. This comes a week after Tyra, the show’s executive producer, allegedly commented that stars like “Nene, Bethenny Frankel, and Teresa Giudice don’t make headlines anymore.”
While promoting her new upcoming show “The Read Session” — a live reading blog that presents open discussions about the hot topics in pop culture — the former reality star said she’d already had a stint on “DWTS” as she threw a little shade at the 46-year-old former runway model.
“Tyra, I thought you and I were cool, girl. I was on ‘Dancing With the Stars’ before you was. Okurrt?”
Tyra addressed the allegations by sharing a statement with Page Six through longtime publicist Elana Rose last week.
“This is 100 percent untrue. She’s a huge fan of the ‘Housewives,’ and everyone knows Tyra is a businesswoman first. As a businesswoman, why would she say anything against the ‘Housewives’? She has nothing to do with casting.”
The “RHOA” OG, not mollified by that statement, also proclaimed that if Tyra was a “businesswoman” — a reference to her statement released to Page Six last week — she would bring the most talked-about people on the show.
“I also think that, for real, this is no joke, but as a businessperson she should want to have people like ‘Housewives’ on the show because people are always talking about them, right? Then they can talk about them over on that platform and it be a good thing for both parties. But you know, I don’t know if she said it for sure, but just in case she did I just wanted to touch on that.”
Nene is one of many “Housewives” who responded to the accusation. Her former “RHOA” co-star Porsha Williams sardonically said on “Dish Nation” following the reports that she didn’t know how she could live without the competition show.
“How will I survive without being on ‘DWTS’? I mean, ‘RHOA’ are only the highest-paid stars reality stars on television outside of the Kardashians. How will we survive? I don’t know.”
Porsha, who also starred with Tyra on NBC’s celebrity edition of “The Apprentice” back in 2015, added that she didn’t believe the rumors. “I love Tyra Banks. I was on ‘Celebrity Apprentice’ with Tyra Banks, and I know she loves ‘Housewives’ and she loves some good ratings. So I don’t believe she said this.”
Bethenny, a former “Real Housewives of New York” star and an entrepreneur, was singing a different tune upon hearing the news. In a since-deleted tweet, the 49-year-old wrote that although she was “clumped” together in the “no more Housewives mandate,” that didn’t stop the casting director — Deena Katz — from asking her to be a part of the show in the past.
She later followed up by explaining why she removed the post.
“I deleted that last post Bc I really like & have a great relationship with Deena Katz from #DWTS.” Bethenny also invited Tyra to her podcast “Just B With Bethenny” to discuss the situation.
“If @tyrabanks wants to come on my podcast, she is welcome anytime as she has built a successful brand on her own in her own way. #justbwithbethenny”
