Friday night’s on MTV is now host to the controversial The Real Friends of WeHo. It hasn't got quite the response the network, or the stars, wanted.
The MTV show follows a group of LGBTQ+ celebrities and entrepreneurs as they navigate their careers and personal lives in West Hollywood. The show features Brad Goreski, Todrick Hall, Jaymes Vaughan, Curtis Hamilton, Dorion Renaud and Joey Zaurig.
It’s being described as an “unfiltered and honest look at a select group of friends living, loving and pursuing their passions in the West Hollywood community. Consisting of some of Hollywood’s most influential and successful LGBTQ+ celebrities, personalities and entrepreneurs.”
RuPaul's Drag Race fans are especially angry at this new reality show, which follows the 15th season of the iconic competition show. The passionate fanbase has taken to social media to demand to see longer episodes of their favorite show and to have The Real Friends of WeHo rescheduled. So why have fans taken to social media in their droves to complain about this new show?
8 The Real Friends Of WeHo Airs Before RuPaul's Drag Race
RuPaul’s Drag Race spent the last six seasons on VH1, with the previous five seasons aired as 90-minute episodes. The 15th season of the show, now on MTV, has been edited down to 60 minutes and airs before The Real Friends of WeHo.
The companion show, RuPaul’s Drag Race: Untucked now airs after The Real Friends of WeHo. This has infuriated fans of the show, where 16 queens compete to become America's next drag superstar. Judging my viewing figures fans are switching off after Drag Race ends, and not all of them are turning back on again.
7 MTV Has Shorter Drag Race Episodes Because Of The Real Friends Of WeHo
Since season 10, Drag Race viewers enjoyed hour-length episodes when the reality show runs with no adverts.
This allows the competition show to air more of the queen's conversations, lets us hear longer judges' critiques, enjoy longer runways and just generally gives the episodes more breathing space.
Fans have taken to social media to complain about how rushed the episodes feels and how they are struggling to fully enjoy the show at its current pacing. All international franchises of the show have episodes that run for one hour without ads.
6 RuPaul Queens Are Upset At The New Edit
The queens of season 15 of Drag Race are not happy that they are getting their season cut down.
Contestant Salina EsTitties took to social media to complain about the shorter edit and said “We worked too hard and invested too much money for a 45-minute edit. I say this as a viewer and fan of the show. I just wanted to see more of the gals.” Former contestant Detox, responded to Salina to say she "hated" this new format.
Former contestant and Race Chasers podcast host Willam, had a theory as to why the new episodes are shorter.
“MTV plans to … somebody wrote online that [MTV] are planning on repeating Drag Race, and showing it repeatedly in an hour format, so that’s one of the reasons it’s a shorter episode.”
The drag performer doesn't blame The Real Friends Of WeHo for this format shakeup “It’s not like The Real Friends of WeHo took their time away, it’s that MTV wants to repeat the episodes, and they need to be in an hour format for that to work,” Willam explained.
5 The Real Friends Of WeHo's Todrick Hall Is A Controversial Figure
The YouTuber, made headlines in early 2022 after receiving backlash for how he treated his fellow Celebrity Big Brother contestants on season 3 and for comments he made on the live feeds.
Hall has been accused of failing to pay employees numerous times, including his dancers and videographers. In March 2022, he was sued for allegedly failing to pay $60,000 in rent for a house he once claimed to own.
Todrick was also accused of "deliberate non-payment to people, racism, sexual assault, sexual harassment, online bullying, exploitation, illegal business practices" by his former assistant in 2019. The ex-employee later leaked documents alleging that Todrick was involved in a sexual harassment legal settlement.
“You can write a million false articles about me. You can tell me that my tour will fail. You can claim I ‘sexually assaulted’ you when you and I both know that never happened," Hall responded on Instagram.
4 The Real Friends Of WeHo Cast Respond To Drag Race Fans
The cast members of The Real Friends of WeHo have defended themselves and their show, saying that they have no control over where and when the series is aired.
Brad Goreski told Out that, “The [Drag Race] fanbase is always super passionate. That’s why we love them. They’re right to be upset if they want to be upset, but as talent on the show, we’re not responsible for where the show ends up. I don’t have anything to do with the programming."
“I love the Drag Race community. I love the Drag Race fans and I will continue to love them, no matter what.”
Jaymes Vaughan added, “I would like 120 minutes of Drag Race. If there’s anything I can do to get that, that’s what I would like.
“The thing with our show that I think nobody realizes yet until they watch it is that it is not what I think people think it is. We did this show, each of us for different reasons, but I can personally speak for myself. I did it for little, scared, gay me that was in those very dark places when I was younger,” he said.
3 The Real Friends Of WeHo's Todrick Hall Hits Back At The LBGTQ+ Community
Immediately following the premiere, choreographer Todrick Hall posted a handwritten, 10-page letter on his Instagram account where he said he had to mentally prepare himself for the “insane influx of hate that comes my way.”
In the letter, which claims the LBGTQ+ community have been the biggest critics of the show, he asked people to focus on queer representation, saying “the gays are creating petitions to get a queer show taken off the air, instead of focusing on the other 165 hours of the week when representation is either lacking or nonexistent.”
A few days later, Todrick posted a 4-page handwritten letter where he addressed comments saying “we don’t want to see a bunch of rich, fit, entitled privileged gay men.”
Comments on both of Hall’s posts were met with both support and further backlash.
2 Is MTV's The Real Friends Of WeHo Fake?
Reality shows aren't 100% true, we all know that, but it's not often the stars of the show call it for being fake as it airs!
Not long after the trailer dropped, Dorion Renaud took to his Instagram Stories to dismiss the entire premise of the show. He says the cast are "fake friends" and that he doesn’t even live in West Hollywood— he lives in the Valley. He also took to Twitter to declare that he doesn’t know his cast members.
Actor Chris Salvatore is claiming that he was fired from The Real Friends of WeHo after three of the cast members refused to film with him for having an OnlyFans account.
1 People Are Turning The Real Friends Of WeHo Off
Putting The Real Friends of WeHo between drag race episodes hasn't just upset audiences, it also has them reaching for their remote controls.
Episode 4 of RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 15 earned 578,000 viewers but the first episode of The Real Friends of WeHo garnered just 186,000 viewers before views switched on again for RuPaul’s Drag Race Untucked Season.
Drag Race is performing within the usual range, despite moving to a new channel. The numbers may look low in comparison to other cultural phenomenons, but this competition show is commonly watched in large groups or in bars. This is shown in the viewing figures of episodes aired in 2020, after the first statewide stay-at-home orders were issued.
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