Jo-Ellen Tiberi faces scrutiny after reported likes on anti-LGBTQ+ posts

Jo-Ellen Tiberi of The Real Housewives of Rhode Island is facing backlash after a Reddit thread circulated screenshots suggesting she liked a series of social media posts from Donald J. Trump, Jr. that many viewers read as anti-LGBTQ+.

The posts shown in the thread included a meme claiming veterans receive only one day of recognition while Pride gets a month, another mocking transgender people, one ridiculing nonbinary pronouns, and a separate post dismissing the idea that some trans men menstruate. The claim is based on social media activity surfaced online and discussed widely by fans, especially in Bravo’s gay audience.

One Reddit user wrote, “Jo-Ellen is so disappointing on this,” adding that as a gay man who had otherwise enjoyed her on the show, he wanted her “to account for it.”

Former TV journalist Kezhal Dashti also posted a video to her 11.5K Instagram followers saying Tiberi had recently attended Pride Drag Brunch events to help promote the series. Dashti said, “It’s really just shocking because Jo-Ellen recently attended Pride Drag Brunch events just last month to promote The Real Housewives of Rhode Island.”

According to one attendee at the brunch, Tiberi said she had never been to a drag brunch before.

The backlash has also drawn comparisons to a separate Bravo controversy involving The Real Housewives of Orange County star Gretchen Rossi, who was questioned last season over likes tied to homophobic posts.

Some Reddit commenters directed criticism at Bravo’s Andy Cohen, who is both the out host and the creator and executive producer of the Real Housewives franchise. One user, plum-apple, wrote that some homophobes “cherry pick which gays they’re 'ok with' and which ones they decide to categorize as 'agenda havers'.”

Another user, 6FeetOfGarbage, said they would pay to see Cohen ask Tiberi about the issue on Watch What Happens Live.

Tiberi had not commented on the controversy or clarified her views on LGBTQ+ rights as of press time. Out said it reached out to Bravo executives for comment and did not receive a response.