The Real Housewives of Orange County’s Kelly Dodd defended her attendance at a crowded restaurant over the weekend amid the COVID-19 pandemic, saying that she and her friends have been vaccinated.
‘The sheeple are mad,’ the 45-year-old reality star said after she caught flak Saturday amid a pileup of controversies for her words and actions amid the coronavirus pandemic, losing a corporate sponsor and garnering calls for her dismissal from the Bravo show.
‘I’m not a superspreader because there’s nothing to spread,’ Dodd said on Instagram Stories, ‘because we all got the vaccine and we don’t have it, so there’s nothing to spread about superspreaders.’
The latest: The Real Housewives of Orange County’s Kelly Dodd, 45, defended her attendance at a crowded restaurant over the weekend amid the COVID-19 pandemic, saying that she and her friends have been vaccinated
On Saturday, she was seen with her husband Rick Leventhal, 61, and friends on a jovial maskless outing at a Newport Beach, California restaurant, with attendees joking about the virus at one point and mockingly toasting to ‘super-spreaders.’
Dodd claimed she was ‘getting a lot of hate for being at a restaurant we’re allowed to be at’ after California partially lifted dining restrictions amid the ongoing pandemic.
Positive Beverage has cut its ties with Dodd amid the blowback of Saturday’s incident, Entertainment Tonight reported Sunday.
‘Our core values of wellness, community, diversity and inclusion should be reflected by our brand and anyone associated with it,’ Positive Beverage’s Zach Muchnick said in a statement. ‘It 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.’
Defense: Dodd said on Instagram Stories, ‘I’m not a superspreader because there’s nothing to spread, because we all got the vaccine and we don’t have it, so there’s nothing to spread about superspreaders’
Blowback: Positive Beverage has cut its ties with Dodd amid the blowback of Saturday’s incident
Dodd seemed to take her firing from Positive Beverage in stride
Dodd seemed to take it in stride, saying on Twitter, ‘I’m glad I could help put Positive Beverage on the map and wish them well. I’m also really excited about my next venture in the beauty industry, which is my real passion. Stay tuned!’
Dodd on Friday said she was secure in her spot on RHOC, saying she was ‘not fired’ from the series, implying one-time costar Vicki Gunvalson was behind the rumors.
Dodd made headlines in connection with the virus last April after saying on social media that she believed that the pandemic was ‘Gods way of thinning the herd’ as she argued with an Instagram user who called her out after taking a cross-country flight.
After a user wrote to Dodd, ‘If non-essential workers keep traveling back and forth like you, it will last longer,’ the reality star replied, ‘Do you know how many people died from the H1N1, the swine flu or SARS? It’s 25% get your facts straight you are only hearing numbers not the reality! It’s God’s way of thinning the herd!’
Dodd made headlines in connection with the virus last April after saying on social media that she believed that the pandemic was ‘Gods way of thinning the herd’
Dodd claimed she was ‘getting a lot of hate for being at a restaurant we’re allowed to be at’ after California partially lifted dining restrictions amid the ongoing pandemic
She subsequently apologized for the remarks, clarifying how she meant the comment to land.
‘When I wrote that it’s “God’s way of thinning the herd,” that’s not what I meant,’ Dodd said on Instagram Stories. ‘What I meant was, “Do these pandemics happen because it’s God’s way?” I’m not God. I’m not insensitive.
‘I feel bad for all the families that have lost loved ones, and I do think we should all stay at home and protect everybody. That’s not what I meant, and I want to apologize to anyone who got offended, OK? I’m sorry.’
A number of fans on Twitter called for Dodd’s firing from the show
She apologized again last month appearing on Watch What Happens Live, saying of her past controversy: ‘It was insensitive and I apologize if I hurt or offended anybody.’
As of Sunday, on a global level, 2,226,935 people have died amid more than 102,922,990 positive diagnoses worldwide, according to Johns Hopkins University. The death total for COVID-19 in the U.S. was at 441,282 people, with 26,178,803 total positive diagnoses.
In Dodd’s home state of California, the state Department of Public Health reported that 481 coronavirus deaths were recorded Sunday, as the state’s death toll has surpassed 40,000.