Andy Cohen prepared for a fast start to BravoCon 2023.
The face and central nervous system of the Bravo network and its many reality franchises kicked off a weekend of panels, cocktail parties and a glittering trade show in Las Vegas on Friday. Held at Caesars Forum just off the Strip, Cohen sat with longtime friend and ex-Bravo talent Jeff Lewis to answer questions from loyal fans. Not all of them were softballs.
One attendee named Alexandra felt that the type of questioning Cohen received wasn’t “messy” enough, so she brought up the issue of “reality reckoning” — a concept pioneered by the renegade former “Real Housewives of New.” York” actress Bethenny Frankel was introduced. This so-called reckoning aims not only to unionize reality TV stars, but also to draw attention to allegedly problematic behavior by cast members, individual show producers and Bravo itself. Many of these issues were laid out in a recent Vanity Fair story in which former cast members (including Frankel) spoke about excessive drinking without production intervention, as well as alleged uncontrolled aggression against people of color.
While the revelation landed with a slight thud, Cohen was still asked what he thought about it.
“I think that Bravo and the shows… bring so much joy and so much happiness to millions of people. “That’s why we’re all here. I live in the joy that your shows bring to people and that’s where I’m at,” Cohen said. Variety caught up with Cohen backstage after his opening lecture, where he called the piece “a factually inaccurate rehash.” He did not elaborate on which elements of the story he believed were inaccurate.
Lewis, who tempered Cohen’s cheerful attitude with caustic cynicism, made cheap attacks on cast members like “The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City’s” Monica Garcia, a mother of four who speaks openly about her financial struggles. Lewis was skeptical that Garcia belonged on a show that typically depicts wealthy women and their excesses, saying Garcia was on “food stamps” and was probably behind on her car payments. Not even Cohen was safe when Lewis addressed the June scandal in which Cohen was secretly filmed getting intimate with another man in a club during New York City’s Pride celebration. Fans quickly rallied around Cohen, saying it was a violation of his privacy.
“With all due respect, it was a gay pride weekend. I was out, I’m a single. “Someone took a video of me, that really wasn’t cool,” Cohen said, adding that Lewis “shamed him.” He added that the man he was filmed with, who had nipple piercings, still keeps in touch via text message.
The first BravoCon took place in 2019 and invited fans from across the US to worship at the altar of reality television. After a memorably hectic 2022 convention at New York’s Javits Center, BravoCon has moved to Las Vegas, where women and gay men of all stripes will tear up the pristine new Caesars Forum convention center.