Jill Zarin Fired From RHONY Spinoff After Racist Rant Over Bad Bunny’s Halftime Show
Reality star Jill Zarin has been dropped from the cast of upcoming series The Golden Life after making disparaging comments about Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl halftime show.
Zarin was set to star in the recently greenlit series on E! alongside a few of her former castmates from The Real Housewives of New York, but the production company has since fired her just one week after the show was announced.
“In light of recent public comments made by Jill Zarin, Blink49 Studios has decided not to move forward with her involvement in The Golden Life,” the producers wrote on social media.
“We remain committed to delivering the series in line with our company standards and values,” it added.
It comes just days after Zarin — who starred in four seasons of RHONY starting from 2008 — copped mass backlash for saying the Puerto Rican pop star’s set was “the worst halftime show ever” because there “were literally no white people in the entire thing”.
“I just don’t think it was appropriate to have it in Spanish,” Zarin said in a since-deleted Instagram Stories video. “I didn’t understand — I don’t speak Spanish, I would’ve liked to know the words he was saying. To me, it looked like a political statement.”
Zarin went on to say Bad Bunny’s halftime show — which celebrated Latin heritage with multiple Latin celebrity cameos and pushed for unity and love — was a statement against US President Donald Trump’s immigration policies.
“I think it was a political statement, and I’m not taking a side one way or the other. I just do. I think it was an ICE thing,” Zarin said.
While celebrated by some, Bad Bunny’s selection as the Super Bowl headliner was considered “woke” by Trump supporters given the non-English lyrics, to the point where the pop star had to address the controversy himself back in October.
Zarin later claimed the NFL “sold out” by enlisting Bad Bunny as the headliner and complained that Bad Bunny’s dance moves were “inappropriate”.
While they didn’t address her comments directly, Zarin’s The Golden Life co-stars and fellow RHONY alums Sonja Morgan and Luann de Lesseps did celebrate Bad Bunny’s performance on social media.
“Showing my love for my Latin friends and supporters,” Morgan wrote on Instagram, while de Lesseps re-shared a quote that appeared on a billboard during Bad Bunny’s set: “The only thing more powerful than hate is love”.
Meanwhile, Zarin’s former Bravo boss Andy Cohen said the issue isn’t his anymore given her defection to the rival network. “Call E!” Cohen said on SiriusXM radio show.
Alongside Morgan and de Lesseps, The Golden Life will star Ramona Singer and Kelly Bensimon. Other RHONY stars, like Dorinda Medley, are also rumoured to appear on the show, which has not yet been given a release date.
Lead images: Instagram
