In November, Kelly Dodd became engaged to Rick Leventhal. Fans were thrilled! But marrying a Fox News reporter comes at a price.
When Kelly shared a photo of her rubbing elbows with the likes of Donald Trump Jr, she seemed genuinely shocked by the furious backlash.
Kelly Dodd shared a pair of photos in which she and Rick Leventhal attended a wedding together.
The Fox News presence was all too real, with the likes of Jesse Watters and Kimberly Guilfoyle in attendance.
Kimberly is of course dating Donald Trump Jr, who also appears in both photos.
Eric Trump and his wife were also present, though Kelly made no effort to tag them. That's the story of Eric's life.
"Beautiful wedding with an impressive guest list," Kelly captioned the photo.
She then wrote: "OBTW, I AM NOT AT ALL POLITICAL."
"I love everyone," Kelly insisted, adding a red heart emoji, and encouraged her fans and followers to "Stay positive."
Spoiler alert: they obviously did not.
"Sorry Kelly, if you keep the company of criminals, dictator, wannabes, obstruction of justice, lawlessness… don’t expect the love," on fan advised.
Another commenter lamented: "Well, this just broke my heart."
"Ugh, you’re a deplorable… was trying to like you, but no," another follower wrote mournfully.
"Oh no," another comment reads, "you’re a Trumper."
"Kelly, you’re making it hard for me to love you," a struggling fan expressed.
Another commenter remarked: "There is nothing impressive about [Donald Trump Jr] except for his lack of intelligence."
"Can’t post a pic of a political family, say you’re not political, and not expect a reaction and comments to match," a fan reasoned.
"I don’t give a f--k what people think," Kelly declared in response to that comment. "I’m having a great time."
"I'm at a wedding," Kelly replied to a supporter on Instagram.
She marveled: "Can you believe these comments?"
Kelly expressed: "The intolerance is unbelievable."
The backlash that Kelly has received is a little more complicated than that, but we'll tackle that in a moment.
Kelly wasn't the only Real Housewife who who caused fans to raise their eyebrows on Monday night.
Emily Simpson, who has openly admitted to voting for Donald Trump in 2016, commented under Kelly's controversial photo.
"You look gorgeous!" Emily accurately praised Kelly, adding: "And I always thought Shane resembled Donald Trump Jr."
If you think that this was a cruel thing to say about her husband, you're not alone.
However, Emily Simpson replied to my comment along those lines, explaining that she was not deliberately throwing shade at her husband.
She disagreed that it was an insult, noting: "I think he looks like Apolo Ohno, too. It's simply an observation."
We're glad that Emily cleared that up.
And oddly enough, we can see what she means about Shane and Apolo having somewhat similar looks.
While we don't expect Kelly to read this, we should explain why she received backlash over what she views as a simple photo.
First and foremost, if you're photographed alongside two members of a political family or a crime family (in this case, both), people will be mad.
Playing the victim after receiving backlash will not endear you to people.
We can understand smiling for a photo at a wedding, particularly one that you are attending through your fiance. But Kelly didn't have to post it.
Also, Kelly's insistence that she is "not at all political" is just not going to go over well with anyone.
We don't just mean that Donald Trump's ongoing crimes against humanity and America should transcend partisan political considerations.
It's just that "I'm not political" means that your personal privilege (in this case, being a rich white celebrity) insulates you from the real world.
Americans have suffered, become impoverished, and died because of Trump's destructive policies. Kelly should care, even if it doesn't impact her.
In addition to this being a grim reminder of Emily's confessed voting history, this could have long-term consequences for Kelly's popularity.
She's not the first Real Housewife to rub elbows with the Trump family -- but most of those Housewives are in New York.
Orange County turned blue for the first time in basically forever in response to Trump, despite being loaded with rich white people.
Has Kelly just lost a massive amount of goodwill that she earned by squaring off against the Tres Amigas? Only time will tell.
