Joe Gorga, one of the Real Housewives of New Jersey star husbands who has survived more than one season on the popular reality TV show, is facing allegations that he faked before and after Instagram photos for his house-flipping business.
Social media quickly responded to the rumors, slamming Joe and mocking him for his alleged actions. But Gorga was quick to defend himself.
Real Housewives of New Jersey star Joe Gorga faces allegations from homeowner that he stole her house photos for Instagram
The brouhaha over the house-flipping business owned by Joe blew up on Instagram. Gorga allegedly took photos that did not represent the actual home he flipped for use in advertising his skills in the before and after house-flipping business, reported Page Six.
Although Joe is categorizing it as a simple error on social media, a homeowner in Park Ridge, New Jersey isn’t as convinced. That homeowner, Caley Svensson, revealed to the publication that she thought it was “really strange” when she discovered that Gorga was advertising her home as his “after photo” and, moreover, that the “before” house in his photo was at a separate address.
While Instagram exploded over the allegations that Joe was allegedly advertising houses at different addresses as homes he had flipped, with before and after labels, the owner of the home revealed that she had sent a message to Gorga requesting that he remove the photos.
“It’s clearly our house,” said Caley, who reportedly co-owns the home with her husband Erik Svensson per property records. “I messaged [Joe Gorga] on the post to please remove it, but he never responded. I DMed him, as well, and he never responded either.”
Joe Gorga, RHONJ star, defends himself from allegedly faking house-flipping business photos on Instagram
Talking with the publication, Gorga defended himself, blaming his social media manager for the “mistake.”
Moreover, Joe said that although the before-and-after photos were of different houses, the RHONJ star did some work on the “after” photo home.
“I helped fund that project,” asserted Melissa Gorga’s husband. “I’m a private lender. I did fund the deal.”
Caley claimed that she purchased the home from the builder and that, after being completely torn down, her house was “rebuilt from the ground up” and thus did not even qualify as a house-flip.
Gorga didn’t dispute that version. “It was a brand-new house, so it made me look even worse,” admitted Joe.
Joe Gorga of RHONJ gets compared to Teresa and Joe Giudice
On Reddit, users were quick to comment on the allegations that Joe had faked photos to advertise his house-flipping business for Instagram.
Moreover, some brought up the fact that his “sister and brother-in-law [Teresa Guidice and Joe Guidice] just did prison time,” as the_ghost_in_me_ Reddit commentator wrote. “I definitely see Joe Gorga doing time in the future. he gets involved in shady sh*t (what happened to the trash truck that was going to shred documents? what happened to the pizzeria?) and he’s not smart enough to get away with his [alleged] crimes.”
Reddit user kat_brinx reflected on “how many times have we heard about Joe Giudice “teaching” Joe Gorga about the business,” adding that there is “no way they weren’t doing similar shady stuff.”
As for the defense that it was the social media manager rather than Gorga who made the Instagram photo error, Reddit user Wintour-Is-Coming questioned “why would the social media person think to link two totally different houses together — that clearly have different addresses.”
Ultimately, Gorga (or the social media manager) deleted the photos that sparked the controversy.