‘RHOC’s’ Kelly Dodd Responds To Backlash Over COVID-19 ‘Superspreader’ Joke

Kelly Dodd is responding to backlash about her controversial stance on COVID-19.

The “Real Housewives of Orange County” star came under fire over the weekend after she and a group of friends and family, including husband Rick Leventhal, dined at a Newport Beach restaurant without masks on. Kelly posted multiple videos of the gathering to her Instagram story, including one clip which showed her and her fellow patrons raising a glass to “superspreaders.”

Dodd noted in another post that she and her companions were “getting a lot of hate for being at a restaurant we’re allowed to be at.”

California Gov. Gavin Newsom lifted a statewide stay-at-home order earlier this month, leaving local governments to enforce quarantine guidelines in their respective cities and counties. Many restaurants have relaunched outdoor dining as a result, in addition to salons and other personal service businesses opening back up at a limited capacity.

Dodd followed up her posts with a video message explaining why she believes no one in her party had done anything wrong.

“I’m not a superspreader because there’s nothing to spread,” she said. “We all got the vaccine and we don’t have it, so there’s nothing to spread about superspreaders.”

Adding, “The sheeple are mad.”

The 45-year-old later clarified the situation further, writing in a since-deleted tweet that she and her crew were dining out to “promote the reopening of a local biz closed since March” and weren’t trying to inflict danger.

“The crowd was celebrating finally enjoying food & drink in a bar & I don’t know the person who yelled ‘super spreader.’ There was never an intent to harm, only to appreciate a slice of normal,” she added.

Positive Beverage reportedly cut ties with Dodd following her recent outing and the reality star has faced previous criticism over her pandemic-related remarks. In April, she apologized for saying that she thought the coronavirus was “God’s way of thinning the herd,” and declared the following month that “no one is dying” of the illness in her community.

At the time, the Los Angeles Times had reported at least 131 COVID-19 deaths in Orange County. As of Sunday, current data has listed more than 3,000 lives lost in the same area.

“I was by no means minimizing deaths that have been caused by this virus. And I feel for their loved ones,” Dodd said on her Instagram story in May.

— Erin Biglow