When it was announced in March 2022 that The Real Housewives of New York City as viewers knew it was being completely scrapped, fans were outraged that Bravo was seemingly blowing up the entire franchise.
The classic RHONY was planning to be recast with a younger and more diverse group of women with organic friendships, and our old favorites were either going to be fired or moved to a new spin-off titled RHONY: Legacy.
Although viewers were skeptical, new life was breathed into the franchise when the revamped cast was announced last month at BravoCon and the ladies showed up for their first public viewing.
The BravoCon crowd loudly welcomed Sai De Silva, Ubah Hassan, Erin Lichy, Jenna Lyons, Brynn Whitfield, Jessel Taank, and Lizzy Savetsky, and fans were happy that a new RHONY was on the horizon.
But only a few weeks later, the cast was down one lady when Lizzy Savetsky left the show, revealing that she and her family had become victims of antisemitic attacks on social media.
Now a new report claims that the Savetsky family also left the show over an explosive incident involving fellow Housewife Brynn Whitfield.
RHONY newbie Lizzy Savetsky allegedly left after a racial slur controversy
According to a new report from Page Six, Lizzy left in the middle of filming RHONY for reasons that were initially kept hush-hush and involved both her husband and fellow Housewife, Brynn Whitfield.
Lizzy, who is a proud Orthodox Jew, fancies herself as a brilliant matchmaker, and Brynn reportedly asked Lizzy if she could set Brynn up with a nice Jewish man. However, Lizzy is said to have declined, stating that she usually only sets up Jews with other Jews.
Lizzy reportedly explained to Brynn that Orthodox Jewish people generally prefer marriages between others of the same religion as a way to preserve their ethnic lineage.
Lizzy’s answer is said to have offended Brynn, who is half-black, and Brynn reportedly said something suggesting that her comments sounded like something the Nazis would say, which shocked Lizzy. This is said to have led to a phone call, which was not filmed, where Brynn allegedly used the N-word in full while talking to Lizzy, which reportedly led to more issues.
To inform producers of what had transpired, Lizzy’s husband, Dr. Ira Savetsky is said to have reported the conversation to the staff, where he also reportedly repeated the slur in full. Although Ira is said to have apologized for his remark, production allegedly decided to cut Lizzy and her family from the series.
The alleged race incident was not the only reason why Lizzy Savetsky left RHONY
Regardless of the situation between Lizzy, Ira, and Brynn, sources close to the show were insistent that Lizzy did also experience a crushing amount of antisemitism and that the incident with Brynn was not the only reason for her exiting the cast.
In an Instagram post last week, Lizzy announced she would not be continuing as a cast member on RHONY. She revealed, “From the time of my announcement in the cast, I was on the receiving end of a torrent of antisemitic attacks. As this continued, I realized that this path was no longer right for me and my family.”
Lizzy also admitted that she hoped to use her new platform as a reality star to represent the Orthodox Jewish religion and teach viewers about her religion and culture.
Bravo has not commented on the new claims.
The Real Housewives of New York is currently on hiatus on Bravo.