Jill Zarin, an original cast member of The Real Housewives of New York City, has been sacked from E!'s upcoming reunion series The Golden Life before production even began. The show's producer, Blink49 Studios, announced on Tuesday that they had decided not to proceed with Zarin's involvement in light of her recent public comments.
Zarin sparked outrage on Super Bowl Sunday when she posted a rant on Instagram criticising Bad Bunny's halftime show. She claimed the performance was 'the worst halftime show ever' and said it was 'inappropriate' to have it in Spanish, given the US's 250th anniversary. She also made remarks about the lack of white performers and suggested the show was a political statement about immigration, before taking aim at Lady Gaga's appearance.
The video of Zarin's comments was widely shared, prompting fierce backlash from other Real Housewives stars. Tamra Judge, Chanel Ayan and Margaret Josephs all condemned her words on social media. Zarin deleted the post and disabled comments on her Instagram grid, but the damage was done.
Zarin's firing is the latest blow to attempts to reunite the original RHONY cast. After a controversial 13th season, Bravo rebooted the show entirely in 2022, and plans for a spin-off series for the original cast members fell through, replaced by a poorly received Ultimate Girls Trip. Several former cast members, including Zarin, have since moved to Florida, which is the setting for The Golden Life.
On his radio show, Andy Cohen addressed the situation, underscoring the network's distance from the project. The incident has once again highlighted the toxicity surrounding the legacy cast, following Ramona Singer's disinvitation from BravoCon 2023 over a racist text exchange.
