What the hell is going on in Beverly Hills?
Not necessarily on television (although I have some questions).
But the social media storm surrounding this season The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills hit a spectacular new low, after a bot campaign targeted an actor’s child.
Let’s back up a bit. Tensions are running on show — and online — between The Beverly Hills Housewife Garcelle Beauvais, a popular vocalist and fan favorite of the show’s avid audience, and… pretty much everyone else in her cast. Lisa Rinna believes that Beauvais fans are using race to evade criticism directed at her by other cast members (Rinna and several other veterans of the show call themselves Fox Force), and She later apologized.
Erika Girardi (see also: Jayne) recommended on the YouTube series after Bravo .’s show that Beauvais had been dishonest in questioning her drinking and uncontrolled behavior, and was actually seeking revenge after Girardi suggested her married son Oliver consider a threesome, and cursed her 14-year-old son, Jax. Dorit Kemsley agrees.
Photo Lester Cohen / Getty
And there’s Sanela Diana Jenkins, who in last week’s episode said Beauvais was the most protected of the cast, while Rinna replied that Beauvais was too “scared” to hear Jenkins’ critique. Jenkins, a new housewife whose Q-score may have to be measured with a stethoscope after a not-so-popular inaugural season on the show, has been posting repeatedly against Beauvais over the past week on Instagram. One such article: “Life is a long time and I play a long game. This is not someone’s face to be pushed around. When! Game on B *% H *! “
Over the weekend, she also posted that Beauvais was unsympathetic about Jenkins’ recent miscarriage, which was discussed on the show. Jenkins said Beauvais, a “fan favorite” (just about this, we agree), can get away with anything.
“Let’s keep trolling,” she finished. “Do your worst.”
And someone did.
Seemingly out of nowhere, starting Monday night, a flurry of Instagram comments appeared on the Instagram account of Beauvais’ young son Jax. Disgusting, crude and identical comments abound, saying Beauvais has no right to criticize Girardi’s drinking “when your brother is addicted to drugs”, accusing Beauvais of being the reason she was on the show. conversation Truth recently canceled and told Jax Beauvais to be “desperate”, a “fame chaser”, a “hypocrite”: “Tell your mother to leave Erika, Lisa Rinna and Diana alone.”
What looked like an abrupt and confusing way for Diana supporters (lol) to defend their icon became clearer as the Bravo community reviewed the accounts behind these comments. Creators include @ FaceReality16, @BravoBravoDuckingBravo, @BravoHistorian, @TheTalkOfShame, and, my selfposted receipts showing that individual accounts — featuring attractive, young, white women — were indeed bots.
Likely to use the services of a bot farm, they appear to have been purchased for a campaign aimed squarely at Jax. Someone orchestrated an online attack against a child, using comments in support of Rinna, Girardi, and especially Jenkins to criticize criticisms of Beauvais by the same cast members. pellets.
Who would do such a thing? And why?
Beauvais posted on social media begging her children to be segregated from online battles, noting that she cried all night and several members of the cast — Rinna, Kemsley, Crystal Kung Minkoff, Sutton Stracke, Kathy Hilton and Kyle Richards— joined in support of Beauvais’ son, posting on social media that children should be kept to a minimum.
Meanwhile, Girardi and Jenkins kept quiet about Jax, while continuing to post about other issues on their accounts. Girardi has been posting on Instagram and Twitter about new music she’ll be releasing soon (supposedly another form of intimidation). Jenkins, whose birthday was yesterday, retweeted congratulations and deleted comments about Jax on recent posts.
And then things got even worse, when Jax’s Instagram comments included death threats. He retweeted a particularly sinister comment, suggesting that Jax would “kneel for it if it weren’t for your white father. Tell your mother to leave Diana alone or you will deal with us.”
And even a seemingly unfulfilled death threat for her honor prompted Jenkins to speak up.
She did not, and has not published this time, mention what appears to be a calculated and ugly campaign directed at a housewife’s child, conducted to support her.
Some viewers have theorized that this was done as a crude way to upset Beauvais enough to hasten an exit from the show. One fan theory is that the crumbling empire of the Fox Force, which includes one of its newest members, is threatened by Beauvais’ popularity with audiences and that she doesn’t appear to want to be a part of it. into negative storylines about actor Sutton Stracke. Because Beauvais wouldn’t be a good fit for Fox Force, the accounts go by what was most precious to her: her vulnerable child.
While Girardi and Jenkins have remained selectively silent — as well as online — Garcelle shared an update from Jax on her Instagram stories today, thanking supporters and once again pressing strong that he’s a child, not a full-fledged adult, who shouldn’t be treated like a member of the cast.
As Jax noted, “middle-aged women spamming me with racist and crude comments about my family was not what I expected my first week of high school.”
It is ironic that Jenkins accused Beauvais of being unsympathetic on social media, considering her silence around what has been an extremely uncomfortable situation for Jax and his family.
This is also a disturbing new low for the franchise and its entrants: the women aren’t exactly known for “coming out of love.” While Children of Housewives has received negative comments online — including Portia Umansky, Richards’ teenage daughter — there has never been anything quite like a bot farm purchased to attack. child of an actor, under the guise of protecting specific other members of the cast.
It’s also the second time this season that Jax himself has said he’s been compromised and injured as a result of the show. He was an incredibly innocent child, age and race, weaponized against him. He has been seen as a vessel for revenge, and certainly not the same measure of courtesy afforded to the children of the other housewives in the cast.
Diana has continued to post on social media, sharing more birthday wishes on Instagram stories and posting in support of Ukraine. She went on to delete many negative comments regarding Jax.
Jenkins thanked her family for “the best birthday ever” this afternoon.
One can’t help but wonder if she’ll get her wish.
