Todrick Hall called out queer ‘hate’ for Real Friends of WeHo. It didn’t go down well
Todrick Hall is facing backlash from LGBTQ+ community over criticism for The Real Friends of WeHo (Getty)
Reality star Todrick Hall has been called out by the LGBTQ+ community after rebuking them for criticising new MTV series The Real Friends of WeHo.
The reality series, which follows six influential LGBTQ+ friends in West Hollywood as they “live, love and pursue their passions”, was already the subject of controversy after its placement in the MTV schedule on Friday night resulted in new episodes of RuPaul’s Drag Race being shortened from 90 to 60 minutes, as well as putting an hour long wedge between the show and its behind-the-scenes aftershow, Untucked.
Hall’s co-stars Joey Zauzig, Brad Goreski, Curtis Hamilton and Jaymes Vaughan have already spoken out against the Drag Race outrage.
However, as the first episode of The Real Friends of WeHo aired over the weekend, Hall himself responded to the negative reviews – and 1/10 IMDb rating – with a damning message aimed squarely at the queer community.
In a lengthy handwritten letter uploaded to Instagram, Hall addressed the “insane influx of hate” he’d received and expressed frustration that pushback to the show was coming from the LGBTQ+ community.
“When our LGBTQ+ show was announced, you’d think any pushback would’ve come from the church or conservatives upset with three hours of queer programming,” he wrote. “But a closer look would show you that the call was coming from inside the house.”
Fans have since shared their reasons for disliking the show online and called out Hall for blaming the queer community for critiquing the onscreen representation.
“What Todrick Hall doesn’t understand, is Real Friends of WeHo isn’t LGBTQ+ at all. There’s not one lesbian or trans person on the cast,” one person wrote.
“It’s just about a bunch of rich, classist, cis gay men. That does not speak to our community as a whole, so why are you upset we don’t support?”
“Todrick Hall trying to spin the disdain for Real Friends of WeHo as ‘hate within our community’ is the most tone-deaf thing,” another added. “We don’t want this show because it’s about typical WeHo gays. Show us someone interesting… and not self-absorbed.”
In his latest Instagram post, he doubled down against criticism that The Real Friends of WeHo cast does not truly represent the LGBTQ+ community.
“Why are we thrilled to watch rich Kardashians or Real Housewives, but we only want to watch gays be underdogs, not well off, not too confident?” he asked.
He went on to explain that while the ensemble could have been more diverse, there are only certain people who fitted the requirements of living in Los Angeles, being available and actually having a “desire” to do the show.
“We have to know that queer people attacking our queer cast is not woke, not progressive and not going to change the situation so it’s a waste of time,” he concluded.
Others fans have called out Hall’s problematic past as reason alone for boycotting the show. For many years, the entertainer has been followed by allegations of not paying employees – something he vehemently denies – lying and generally behaving rudely towards fans.
During his appearance on Celebrity Big Brother, Hall was also criticised for making personal comments about other housemates, in particular model and actor Shanna Maeokler.
Hall hit back against the allegations in his Instagram post, asserting that he would “never” not pay his dancers and would “never” lie.
He then uploaded a parody video reenacting the infamous Regina George scene in Mean Girls writing his own roast page in a fake burn book, penning various hate comments.
The comments under his posts are a mix of supportive friends and fans, and people continuing to call out their criticisms – particularly those hurt at losing out on Drag Race time.
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