During her sold-out holiday cabaret show, Luann de Lesseps teased her former “Real Housewives of New York City” co-star Bethenny Frankel about her “reality reckoning.”
“Now back to Bethenny. Why bite the hand that feeds you, you know, listen?” What De Lesseps said on Saturday night during her rendition of “A Very Countess Christmas” at 54 Below in New York City seems to be captured on camera.
According to a source, de Lesseps was answering a fan’s question regarding her opinion of Frankel.
The 58-year-old Bravolebrity then attacked 53-year-old Frankel for targeting NBC Universal and Bravo executive Andy Cohen.
“Why would you bite Andy? Why would you bite NBC? De Lesseps asked.
As the singer of “Money Cannot Buy You Class” went on to criticize the founder of Skinnygirl, the crowd applauded.
She said to Frankel, “You know, just go off into the sunset.” “Your earnings are in the millions and even billions. Why do you keep harping on us if you do as you say? Why are you bringing up our names?”
Then, De Lesseps applauded, quoting Frankel’s catchphrase from the show, “Leave us alone! Go to bed! Go to bed! Go to bed!”
According to the source, De Lesseps’ performance in the Big Apple went “wild” with the crowd.
A source said, “I needed three martinis. It was a full house, and the audience was going nuts.”
The outrageous Christmas performance served as a taster for de Lesseps’s forthcoming “Marry F. Kill” tour, which is scheduled to begin in early 2019 and visit cities such as Boston, London, and Los Angeles.
Frankel has been pursuing better treatment for reality TV stars by going after Bravo and NBC.
Frankel filed a massive lawsuit against NBCUniversal and Bravo this summer, alleging that the reality stars are used as props, are fed alcohol, and are the targets of revenge porn.
In addition, the businesswoman is attempting to form a union for unscripted television actors, and her attorneys are requesting that the network and its affiliate permit reality TV stars to violate their nondisclosure agreements to reveal the purported abuse.
She criticized Cohen in September for posing “unsavory” and “difficult” queries during his Bravo late-night program, “Watch What Happens Live.” She made it clear this month, though, that Cohen is not the target of “any personal vendetta.”
She reiterated her commitment to bringing about “systemic change” in October, but she made it clear that she is not suing the network.
Now that I have spent time with them, I understand a lot of them—aside from the cameras, publicists, news stories, and programs that aim to highlight our worst traits. She wrote on Instagram at the time, saying, “Long before reality TV, I started to strongly dislike many of them and adore many of them.” ”
“You have to kill or be killed to succeed in reality TV,” she went on. You will be fired if you do not get dirty. In this zero-sum game, where people like myself get rich and the less strategic go broke or get canceled, someone is winning and someone is losing.”
In response to criticism, she stated that “hands deserve to be bitten.”
“We have provided advertising funds, catchphrases, ratings, and content to the machine. They become filthy rich, and we get filthy,” she remarked at the time.
Having contributed to the beginning of “RHONY” in 2008, Frankel and de Lesseps have a history of animosity and have traded jabs with one another over the years.
Frankel’s agent did not respond to a request for comment right away.
