An original member of the Real Housewives of New York City has been fired for a racist social media tirade following Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl halftime performance.
E! announced that reality star Jil Zarin, 62, would not appear in their upcoming reunion show, The Golden Life, through the show’s production studio, Blink49 Studios.
“In light of recent public comments made by Jill Zarin, Blink49 Studios has decided not to move forward with her involvement in The Golden Life. We remain committed to delivering the series in line with our company standards and values,” the statement said.
The announcement came just one week after the show was announced, and was prompted by Zarin’s now-deleted Instagram video ranting about the Puerto Rican musician’s halftime show.
“Now we all agree, I agree, and I’ve said it before, that it was the worst halftime show ever. It’s 250 years that we’re celebrating right now in the United States, and I just don’t think it was appropriate to have it in Spanish,” Zarin said in the 75-second video. “Seriously, I didn’t understand. I don’t speak Spanish. I would have liked to have known the words he was saying.”
Bad Bunny, 31, whose real name is Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, is a Grammy-winning musician whose songs are almost entirely in Spanish. His halftime performance drew the ire of many conservative critics, chief among them President Donald Trump, who, like Zarin, considered the show the worst in history.
Later in the video, the original RHONY cast member said the show must have been a political statement.
“To me, it looked like a political statement because there were literally no white people in the entire thing,” Zarin said before listing off an appearance from white singer Lady Gaga. “I think it was a political statement—and I’m not taking a side one way or the other—I just do. I think it was an ICE thing. And I just think that the NFL sold out, and it’s very sad because this was 75 years. Shame. Shame.”
Zarin deleted the post almost immediately and turned off comments on her account.
A week before his Super Bowl appearance, Bad Bunny called out ICE directly in a Grammy Awards acceptance speech.
“Before I say thanks to God, I’m going to say, ICE out. We’re not savage, we’re not animals, we’re not aliens, we are humans, and we are Americans,” the Puerto Rican native said.
Before closing out her video, Zarin took one more shot at the halftime show.
“Lady Gaga got a facelift. I didn’t recognize her. I literally had to Google her face to see who it was cuz we all couldn’t agree who it was,” Zarin concluded.
