Jennie Nguyen is defending herself from being labeled as "racist."
The former reality TV star was fired from The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City after her offensive and racially-insensitive Facebook posts from 2020 recently resurfaced. Now, just one day after Bravo announced the news, she is sharing her side of the story.
Jennie, 44, took to Instagram on Wednesday, Jan. 26, admitting that the controversial posts—many of which were critical of the Black Lives Matter movement following the death of George Floyd, with one even making joke out of running over "rioters" with a car—were "very insensitive," but backed her decision to "support my political stance."
Jennie, who previously apologized last week, explained that it "doesn't really matter" whether she or a team member posted the messages.
"I take full responsibility and accountability for what was posted," she shared during an Instagram Live session with a friend. "I know my viewpoint during that time in 2020 was emotional, and it brings back a lot of memories during that time when we went through such a tragic, terrible year."
She continued, "I'm big enough to understand that those posts are very insensitive to the point where it is disgusting, but I want you to understand that my political stance, I still support that."
Jennie said she's "very proud" to be a Republican. "I am proud to be able to say I have the freedom of speech to choose and to have an opinion," she went on. "I respect your opinion. I respect your political stance. We are different, but we need to respect each other and we need to understand that we live in this country where we have the freedom to speak online."
She said she doesn't "tolerate" violence and that she does support law enforcement. "I know with every profession there's good, there's bad," the former Bravo cast member shared. "I don't support the totality of Black people or with any race, but I do support my law enforcement, but that doesn't make me racist. To support my political stance, that does not make me racist."
During the conversation, Jennie acknowledged that she's made "tons of mistakes" in her life. "Am I going to continue to make the mistakes? Of course, absolutely. Am I going to learn and adapt and teach? Of course I am," she said. "But I'm still human. We all we need to understand that we need to support each other."
The star, who is married to Duy Tran, added, "What is what matters is I hurt my fans. I hurt the people that out there supporting me and I feel really, really, really awful for that. And I never want to put anyone in that situation, because I don't promote violence. You know, I understand that Black people suffer a lot and went through a lot, and have dealt with a lot, more than any race on this planet. You have done nothing wrong to deserve pulling over, getting a speeding ticket and end up risking your life."
That being said, she doesn't support people "that are out there burning buildings," saying that her friends had their business "destroyed" without cause.
"What I'm trying to say is, that doesn't make me racist," Jennie said. "That makes me compassionate for people that are suffering. And I know a lot of people that are suffering without being involved in the movement and mentally, physically, we all are dealing with it. And I hope you understand that I will continue to change and learn and improve myself."
Bravo ousted Jennie on Jan. 25, releasing a statement that began, "Bravo has ceased filming with Jennie Nguyen and she will no longer be a cast member on The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City."
"We recognize we failed to take appropriate action once her offensive social media posts were brought to our attention," the statement continued. "Moving forward, we will work to improve our processes to ensure we make better informed and more thoughtful casting decision."
Jennie's RHOSLC co-stars have yet to publicly react to her firing, but all of them—with the exception of Mary Cosby, who recently skipped the season two reunion—previously issued statements condemning Jennie's posts.
There weren't any explicit calls to fire Jennie in these statements, but Jen Shah did label Jennie's apology—which she issued on Wednesday, Jan. 19 about her past "offensive" posts—"disingenuous."
As Jen wrote on social media in response, "Since my RHOSLC cast member has admitted that she made those horrible comments and posts, I must now stand up, on behalf of my husband and sons who are African American, to say that I am deeply offended by the racially insensitive posts and comments."
Jen continued, "It was infuriating to see her like and repost comments that made a mockery of and showed complete apathy toward those killed marching to bring awareness to the deep-seeded [sic] social injustice issues that plague our country. I am equally disappointed by the disingenuous apology that was issued. Needless to say, we have some real s--t to talk about."
In their own statements, Heather Gay admitted she was "deeply shocked" by the "blatantly racist and derogatory statements reshared and liked by one of my fellow castmates," while Lisa Barlow expressed her "disappointment" with the posts that "were harmful and hurtful to a community I love."
Andy Cohen, for his part, described Jennie's posts as "upsetting" and "disgusting."
Season two of RHOSLC is currently playing out Sundays on Bravo.
(E! and Bravo are both part of the NBCUniversal family.)