Last month, we reported on the cast of The Real Housewives of New York City Season 14.
It was, as we noted, a shakeup. Bravo wanted to try something new.
Now, however, we need to amend that cast list — for one very sad reason.
Lizzy Savetsky has parted ways with the show after a barrage of vicious antisemitic attacks. This is scary.
Lizzy Savetsky is a mother of three. She is a digital influencer, she is an activist, and she is married to Dr. Ira Savestky, a plastic surgeon.
She moved to New York for college, hailing from Forth Worth, Texas. She eventually returned to New York — this time, for good.
Lizzy is not just a “housewife.” As is often the case in this franchise, she makes use of her platform.
Obviously, Lizzy expresses her style on social media. But she does more than that.
She educates her followers on her Orthodox Jewish faith and culture.
And Lizzy even hosts an Instagram show, “Bashert.” The goal? Helping Jewish singles find love.
Unfortunately, when Lizzy joined The Real Housewives of New York City, she did not find “love.” Quite the contrary.
Most Housewives have conflict with their castmates. But Lizzy found herself under attack on social media … without even a single episode airing.
With that in mind, she is walking away from the show and from Bravo.
“I will not be continuing on the ‘Real Housewives of NYC,’” Lizzy wrote on Instagram.
“As a proud orthodox Jewish woman,” she noted. “I thought participating in this series would be a great chance to represent people like me and share my experience.”
Lizzy lamented: “Unfortunately, from the time of my announcement in the cast, I was on the receiving end of a torrent of antisemitic attacks.”
“As this continued, I realized that this path was no longer right for me and my family,” Lizzy wrote.
“I’m looking forward to my next chapter,” she told her followers.
Lizzy then concluded: “Stay tuned — and thank you for your support! All my love.”
“I can confirm that she is leaving, unfortunately,” Andy Cohen then confirmed.
“What I can also tell you is that when I’ve spoken out against antisemitism,” he then shared.
Andy revealed to People that “the response that I’ve gotten has been quite alarming.”
“We’re living in really messed up, weird times right now,” Andy correctly observed.
Notably, a recent terrorist threat against synagogues in New York had multiple houses of worship on high alert. Only an eagle-eyed transportation worker helped to identify the would-be mass murderers.
Andy astutely commented that “social media makes it a whole lot worse.”
“It’s a really rough time,” Andy then remarked.
“As a Jewish American,” he added, “it saddens me to see what’s happening with antisemitism.”
Bigotry and hate crimes — stochastic terrorism, in many cases — are indisputably on the rise, and have been for years. There is evil in some people’s hearts that drives them to destroy others.
As for Lizzy’s threats, there are actually some conflicting reports about what people said to her.
Some insiders describe her being inundated by online antisemitism. Likely, some of this came after she spoke against Kanye West’s unhinged antisemitic tirades.
Others have said that there was also backlash from Bravo fans and even from the cast, not for her being Jewish, but for her strongly pro-Israel stance. Obviously, the two are not unrelated, but opposing apartheid is not in and of itself antisemitic.
But it is heartbreaking to hear about so much bigotry aimed at her. And the threats are even worse.