‘Real Housewives Of Orange County’ Star Kelly Dodd Says She Hasn’t Been Fired After COVID-19 Comments

Real Housewives of Orange County star Kelly Dodd said she hasn’t been fired from the show as she faces backlash for her comments opposing COVID-19 restrictions and a clip from the reunion special where she claimed to be black.

On Friday she tweeted, “No I am not fired !!! Contacts haven’t come out yet ! Vicki stop being a hater,” calling out fellow RHOC star Vicki Gunvalson.

Dodd is possibly referencing a statement Gunvalson made to Champion Daily in November, “Kelly is a living nightmare who continues to make reckless comments with no regard for the impact her words may have. While I continue to be surprised Bravo would continue to endorse her behavior- especially given all of the fan pushback on social media regarding the horrendous things she’s said – time will tell if she will remain on the show or not.”

Although Dodd says she has not been fired from the show, she was fired from her partnership with Positive Beverage on Sunday.

“Our core values of wellness, community, diversity and inclusion should be reflected by our brand and anyone associated with it,” Zach Muchnick, the company’s head of brand, said in the written statement on the company’s Instagram Story. “(I)t has become clear over the past few months that Kelly’s controversial views and opinions have distracted from our primary objectives, so effective today, we are no longer affiliated with Kelly Dodd-Leventhal.”

“I’m glad I could help put Positive Beverage on the map and wish them well,” she tweeted in response. “I’m also really excited about my next venture in the beauty industry, which is my real passion. Stay tuned!”

Dodd has been in the news recently for a series of problematic takes about COVID-19. Over the weekend, she posted videos to her Instagram Story showing herself with a large group of friends at a restaurant. After receiving blow back from the posts from fans questioning if she should be out in such a large group during a pandemic she said that her and her friends should be able to “live normal lives.”

“I’m not a super spreader because there is nothing to spread,” Dodd said in the post, adding that she and her friends “all got the vaccine. And we don’t have it. So there’s nothing to spread.” In California, only those over 65 and essential workers are eligible for vaccines.

In other videos, she called those who were calling out her lack of regard for California’s COVID restrictions “sheeple,” and said compared the restrictions in Orange County to Russia.

Dodd has made controversial remarks about COVID-19 in the past, but had apologized for them.

“Of course, I regret saying that,” Dodd told Andy Cohen on Watch What Happens Live in December.

“It was a question: ‘Why do pandemics happen like this?” she said. “Is it God’s way of thinning the herd?’ It was a stupid thing for me to say. It was insensitive, and I apologize if I hurt or offended anybody because that wasn’t really my intention.”

Dodd is also under scrutiny for calling herself black during the second part of the RHOC reunion special that aired last week. She later walked back the statement, saying that the clip was taken out of context, and she posted her DNA test results that showed she was 4% black. Fans were still confused and upset about why should would say that she was black if she didn’t identify that way.

“When I yelled ‘I’m black’ it was part of a much larger argument. No, I don’t identify as African American but yes I’m part black (4%),” she wrote on Instagram.