Why was Jennie Nguyen fired from The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City? Details explored

Jennie Nguyen was fired from The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City after previously posted, racially offensive Facebook content from 2020 resurfaced while Season 2 was airing and Season 3 was already in production.

The posts, which mocked Black Lives Matter and included language about “thugs” and calls for “White Lives Matter,” set off a swift backlash from viewers, commentators, and Bravo personalities, leading Bravo to announce that it had “ceased filming” with Nguyen and that she would “no longer be a cast member” on The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City.​

As The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City continues to evolve amid shifting cast members and missing faces such as Jen Shah, fans are now talking about earlier seasons, bringing up former cast members like Jennie Nguyen again.

The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City: Why Bravo cut ties

At the center of the decision were multiple Facebook posts and shared memes from Nguyen’s since‑deactivated account, originally posted during the 2020 protests following the murder of George Floyd.

The posts compared Black Lives Matter protesters to “thugs” and “violent gangs,” promoted “White Lives Matter,” questioned Floyd’s cause of death, and included a cartoon of a driver joking about running over protesters with a car.

Fans captured and circulated screenshots across social media and discussion forums, where they were catalogued and dissected alongside Nguyen’s on‑screen persona on The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City.​

Bravo responded on January 25, 2022, issuing an official note stating Nguyen’s run on The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City was basically over. The network said, 

“Bravo has ceased filming with Jennie Nguyen and she will no longer be a cast member of The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City. We recognize we failed to take appropriate action once her offensive social media posts were brought to our attention. Moving forward, we will work to improve our processes to ensure we make better informed and more thoughtful casting decisions.”​

Ahead of the firing announcement, Nguyen posted a written apology on Instagram responding to the resurfaced Facebook posts. She wrote,

“I want to acknowledge and apologize for my deleted Facebook posts from 2020 that resurfaced today. At the time, I thought I was speaking out against violence, but I have since learned how offensive and hurtful my words were. I regret those posts and am sincerely sorry for the pain they caused.” 

The apology was later deleted but has been preserved and quoted in subsequent coverage of her exit from The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City.​

In the days between the surfacing of the posts and Bravo’s final decision, other figures linked to the franchise addressed the controversy publicly.

Executive producer Andy Cohen referred to Nguyen’s posts as “disgusting and upsetting” on his SiriusXM program while explaining that “serious discussions” were happening behind the scenes about how to respond.

Cast members from The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City used their own social media accounts to condemn the Facebook content and, in many cases, unfollowed Nguyen online.​

Nguyen later spoke again about the situation, stating that she took responsibility for the posts but arguing that sharing them “doesn’t make me racist,” while emphasizing that she had reposted content rather than writing every word herself.

She also reiterated that she supported law enforcement, pointing to that support as the context in which she had amplified some of the 2020 material.

Those remarks did not alter Bravo’s position, and the network’s statement about The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City has remained its definitive explanation for cutting ties.​

On camera during Season 2, Nguyen had already been involved in conversations around race and language.

She confronted castmate Mary Cosby over Cosby’s reference to her “slanted eyes,” telling Cosby directly that the phrase was offensive and pressing her to acknowledge the harm.

Cosby faced criticism for that comment and other behavior, and she later skipped the Season 2 reunion, while The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City simultaneously chronicled the fallout from Jen Shah’s fraud and money‑laundering case.​

Broader Bravo context and production fallout

Nguyen’s removal came during a wider reassessment of cast behavior across Bravo’s unscripted lineup.

In 2020, the network let go of Vanderpump Rules cast members Stassi Schroeder, Kristen Doute, Max Boyens, and Brett Caprioni after past racist actions and posts came to light, and Kelly Dodd exited The Real Housewives of Orange County after repeated backlash, including over a “Drunk Wives Matter” hat that critics said mocked Black Lives Matter.

The language in Bravo’s statement about The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City, promising “more thoughtful casting decisions,” aligned with that ongoing push to examine social media histories and on‑camera conduct more closely.​

Off‑camera accounts from entertainment outlets and fan communities described the production response to Nguyen’s controversy as decisive once the Facebook posts became widely known.

Stay tuned for more updates.