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Reality TV personalities and scandals often go hand in hand. Sometimes, they can elevate someone in the spotlight, with new trailers using their drama to promote the show.
Not always. Even for a Real Housewife, some things aren’t fun or juicy.
The Real Housewives of Potomac stars Gizelle Bryant and Robyn Dixon have a podcast together. And one of them is now in hot water.
Why in the world did Gizelle feel the need to say a homophobic slur?
During Monday’s episode of their Reasonably Shady podcast, Gizelle Bryant and Robyn Dixon discussed the Jussie Smollett case.
“What he did was, in case you guys don’t remember, was he staged a hate crime,” Bryant described to listeners.
“So they were supposed to put a noose around his neck, they were supposed to call him ‘f—–’ or something … gay Empire boy or something.”
Based upon the audio, it sounded like Robyn Dixon felt as stunned by Bryant’s decision to say the slur aloud as the rest of us did. In the podcast, you can even hear her let out a long sigh.
“They were supposed to scream that,” Bryant continued. It seems that, at this point, she realized what she had done.
Bryant then clarified: “These were the words that Jussie gave the trainers to do.”
This could be worse. That’s not the most inspirational line, but it’s true.
Gizelle was not calling someone this homophobic slur. And she did not seem to be casually using the word. There was a specific context.
But a slur is a slur. No slurs are good slurs. And there is at least one slur that is even worse. But this one is still one of the worst. What was she thinking? Why did she say such a hateful word?
The f-slur is a favorite of outspoken homophobes. Not usually by the people who pretend that they “don’t hate” their targets (at least, not in public), but by the more in-your-face flavors of bigots.
Historically, the f-slur is primarily a weapon against gay men — at least, during the lifetime of anyone reading this. However, other targets can be bisexual men, and even LGBTQ+ women and nonbinary folks. It is certainly not the only slur that bigots have “expanded” in this way.
In a frightening number of cases, it is a word that people have been called during the worst moments of their lives. Disowned by family, attacked by strangers, even in their final moments of life. The word’s history is downright ugly.
The backlash on social media was both immediate and outspoken. As one would expect, from a reality star on a major franchise just blurting out a slur in a public podcast.
There has been some pushback from people arguing that the slur was “relevant” to what she was discussing. And you know what? It is relevant.
But it’s much more relevant to our discussion of Bryant’s current scandal. We have somehow managed to refer to this story without using it even once. Just as we would with other hateful slurs.
The thing is that, when it comes to slurs, there are very few contexts that can excuse them. Sometimes an actor might need to speak a slur. And, of course, slurs lack their harmful impact when used by their intended targets. In time, some marginalized communities reclaim slurs that were once neutral or even positive (and hopefully can become that again).
Some critics have argued that Gizelle Bryant’s use of the slur here must mean that she uses it more regularly in private. However, unlike when someone blurts out a slur in a moment of frustration, we would disagree here.
But we would agree that it is unacceptable. That doesn’t mean that Bryant is evil or homophobic — just that she should not have said this.
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