Andy Cohen is standing by the decision to keep Ramona Singer away from BravoCon 2023.
“I think it was the right call,” Andy, 55, exclusively told Us Weekly of Ramona, 66, on Friday, November 3, during an interview at the fan convention.
The Real Housewives of New York City alum was dropped from the three-day event — which is being held in Las Vegas until Sunday, November 5 — earlier in the week. The change was made after Ramona sent a text message to a Page Six reporter who asked for her reaction to a Vanity Fair article that alleged she used the N-word while talking to a Black crew member on RHONY.
While Ramona attempted to defend herself, she repeated the racial slur in an abbreviation. “And the word I used was ‘N-word,” she wrote in a screenshot published by Page Six on Tuesday, October 31. “Not n-g.”
Andy revealed that he has since been in touch with Ramona, and the duo have “texted a little bit.” While Ramona was not in attendance at the convention, Us confirmed that her daughter, Avery Singer, was present to promote her business Bach Boss.
Before BravoCon officially started, a source exclusively told Us that Ramona was “distraught” and “very upset” about the backlash. The insider also claimed that the reality star “made the choice that she didn’t want to go” and it was a “mutual decision” between her and executives to not attend.
A second source close to the network, however, told Us that wasn’t the case. “Ramona was told she is not coming to BravoCon,” the additional insider explained. “It was not her choice to not attend.”
Us reported in October 2021 that Bravo launched an investigation into Ramona after Eboni K. Williams — who became RHONY’s first Black cast member in season 13 — accused Ramona of making a racially insensitive remark. A source revealed at the time that a crew member had also filed a complaint against Ramona in December 2020, which was “corroborated.”
Eboni, 40, claimed in Vanity Fair’s Monday, October 30, exposé that Ramona said “most” Black people do not have present fathers while participating in a training session with two racial justice representatives, a Bravo publicist and an NBCUniversal communications expert.
Ramona defended her alleged statements, telling Vanity Fair that “the training included ‘open dialogue.’” She went on to claim that she “asked a question about a statistic” that she read about “single-parent households, where children with single-parent households were statistically less likely to succeed than two-parent households.”
After season 13 of RHONY ended in 2021, Ramona exited the series. An entirely new cast was introduced for season 14, which premiered in July. Ramona will still be a cast member on the upcoming fifth season of Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip, RHONY Legacy. Andy confirmed to Us on Friday that RHONY Legacy will proceed as expected despite the drama and teased that it’s going to be a “great show.”
With reporting by Christina Garibaldi
