Nothing like discussing Lisa Vanderpump over a nice cold brewskie, right?
Bravo recently announced that actor Jerry O’Connell will host a brand new show, Real Men Watch Bravo, where he’ll be joined by a rotating cast of other men who love Countess Luann and Nene Leakes. According to Bravo’s own site, the show will feature a lot of male takes on “the buzziest moments of Bravo” and will offer “unprecedented access to what guys are really thinking.” O’Connell is set to executive produce the series with Andy Cohen.
Oy, where do we begin.
The whole thing just sounds a bit … oh, Masc 4 Masc, doesn’t it? It’s no secret that women and gay men love Bravo, so the whole “we want men to like us” thing is a bit Dr. Pepper Ten, isn’t it? And the whole “real men” thing isn’t the best look. The implication of that title is, of course, that the men who currently watch Bravo are … not real men?
Subscribe to get a twice-weekly dose of queer news, updates, and insights from the INTO team.
in Your Inbox
A few people on Twitter also thought the move was a little odd.
Bravo hates its audience of gay men almost as much as RuPaul
— Sam Herbst (@mrsamherbst) July 9, 2018
The five straight men who watch Bravo are so worried about being called a fag that they had to get their own show proving how not gay they are. Straight white men are the most exhausting people on the planet.
https://t.co/tClnrCaDx7— sam greisman (@SAMGREIS) July 9, 2018
With all due, this is such a dull premise playing on antiquated ideas of gender roles. "Real" men watch Bravo? Sis, we been watching since "Queer Eye" back in 2003. This ain't new.https://t.co/9RH6hpf0WH
— Ξvan Ross Katz (@evanrosskatz) July 9, 2018
Even choosing Jerry O’Connell is an odd choice. O’Connell recently filled in for Wendy Williams for a week when she was on leave and while some people liked his performance, there’s no question he was performing some mixture of blackness and queerness and high femmeness for his audience that left a bad taste in some people’s mouths.
The non-cynical side of me does say maybe the show could do some good in pushing the fact that one can be male and not practice toxic masculinity. But something about Bravo trying to have its own Man Show feels like covert toxic masculinity — like the kind that wears a man bun and mansplains organic kombucha to you, as opposed to the kind that crushes a beer can on its head.
