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In last night’s episode of The Real Housewives of Atlanta, Drew and Ralph had marriage counseling, Cynthia got a reality check about her wedding, and Kenya was uninvited to a party she was never invited to. In the latter situation, unfortunately, viewers saw the “Gone With The Wind Fabulous” diva continuing to put down Porsha’s activism in the Black Lives Matter movement. While Porsha was being recognized for keeping Breonna Taylor’s name alive, Kenya was at home being bitter and messy.
In the episode, viewers saw Posha’s sister, Lauren, invite members of the cast to a surprise party she was throwing for Porsha to honor all of the protesting the latter did throughout the summer. When Lauren invited Cynthia, the RHOA vet asked to bring Kenya as her plus one. This was done despite the fact that Lauren made it clear that Kenya wasn’t originally supposed to be on the guest list. After Lauren begrudgingly allowed Cynthia to come with Kenya, the latter women planned to attend Porsha’s event together.
As the special night approached, Kenya was getting ready when Cynthia called to give her “some bad news.” Lauren had followed up and admitted that she wasn’t comfortable with Kenya coming because she really didn’t think it was a good idea. Basically, Kenya’s “invite” was rescinded.
After learning that she wasn’t welcome to the event anymore, Kenya spoke with Kandi and talked badly about the event, downplaying Porsha’s activism and just plainly being a hater.
“I think this whole party is extremely self-serving and fake. To me it’s just all a photo-op anyway,” she said during the phone call. “Why is it that [Porsha] always manages to get arrested on camera?” she then asked Kandi.
In her confessional, Kenya shared her irritation with Lauren’s decision and criticized Porsha for it.
“Who would not take someone rescinding an invitation as an insult?” she asked. “If you’re over here speaking about unity and Black Lives Matter… please, be consistent with your message, period.”
Back on the phone, Kandi told Kenya it would be fake for her to attend if she was questioning Porsha’s involvement in the protest anyway. To me, Kandi was really voicing everyone’s thoughts on Kenya’s problematic actions throughout the episode.
“I personally just feel like, I mean it would be awkward anyway if you feel like she’s not, you know, being genuine,” the singer-songwriter told Kenya. “Like you don’t even want to be there at her house and say that to anybody.”
“And I wouldn’t,” Kenya interjected before the call wrapped. “I wouldn’t there. I wouldn’t there. I would respect the fact of what they were trying to do and play nice. I’ve done it 100 times before.”
Lauren, for the record, has no regrets about having a change of heart in wanting to look out for her big sister.
In my opinion, Kenya’s tirade on Porsha’s protesting intentions was really uncalled for and in poor taste. Why did she want to go and “play nice” at the event when she thought it was a “self-serving and fake photo-op?” Doesn’t that make her the one that is phony? Why bother going to a party that is based on celebrating Porsha’s activism when you don’t even believe she’s doing it for the right reasons? As many pointed out, Kenya is always ready to let people know about her place in Black history, but has flopped all season when it comes to supporting Porsha in working towards justice for Black people in the present.
Also, am I the only one who thinks Cynthia is the real person to blame for this messy drama? Lauren clearly didn’t want Kenya to come to the event from the jump, so why did Cynthia feel the need to bring her bestie as a plus one? Realistically, by doing so she really only gave Lauren two options. The first was that Lauren could allow Kenya to come and be monitoring her behavior all night so no potential drama went down and distracted from Porsha’s moment. The second option, was not allowing Kenya to come, which was her mood from the get-go.
As for Kenya, constantly saying negative things about someone who is literally getting arrested and doing the groundwork in the fight for equality is a really bad look. Unfortunately, everyone can see that besides Kenya — and it shows. Porsha deserved to be highlighted by her friends for the work she’s done. And since she and Kenya have never been the best of friends, and ended last season on not-so-great terms, Kenya shouldn’t have wanted to be present. Lessons learned in all this, even if not by Kenya, include that you shouldn’t want to go to places where you’re not truly wanted. Moreover, don’t disparage the event you wanted to be a part of because you couldn’t get in.
