by Though I am no big fan of reality television programming and in fact have frequently wished that there would be less reality television and more scripted television (even cheesy television shows are, to me, better than so-called reality programs that do not resemble any reality I have ever seen in this real world.) I still keep an ear open to the occasional occurrence when someone from the world of reality television crosses over into mainstream television by finding themselves on the news.
This is precisely what happened recently when the host and creator of the Bravo television program “Millionaire Matchmaker,” Patti Stanger, found herself in a bit of trouble after she made some rather offensive statements regarding homosexuals and Jews.
Why would openly gay Andy Cohen — programming bigwig at Bravo and self-appointed talk show host — employ a raging homophobe like Millionaire Matchmaker Patti Stanger? It doesn’t quite make sense, does it? An openly gay professional dedicating loads of airtime to someone who not only calls women fat, ugly, and “too masculine” to their faces (her rule of thumb: “Dumb it down a little because men are not that bright”), but who happily painted all gay men as uncontrollably promiscuous neanderthals on Watch What Happens last night. Even after Andy insisted that he is “down with monogamy,” Patti laughed and asked, “When was the last time you had a boyfriend?”
Regarding Jews, Stanger “only” said that they lie.
What bothers me about all of this is that she goes on with her life, being on this ridiculous television show and suffering apparently no consequences for her actions. I would think that if it were nearly anyone else doing something of the same nature, they would be reprimanded if not outright fired for doing this — why has she not been fired? Simply put, it must be because the ratings for her show are good enough and bring in enough revenue from ad sponsorship that they don’t want to lose it by firing her and replacing her with someone who might not attract a similar sized audience.
I feel that this is wrong and that all employees should be held to some kind of moral standard. At the very least, she should be punished for making these terrible statements — even if she later apologized for it.
I have been stumped as to why Stanger is on TV. Does she have any success rate at all as a Matchmaker? What percentage of her TV clients are married with children? She’s all about being and denigrating her “rich” clients. It’s all so horribly unseemly.
Another show that’s less about results and more about the drama!
I agree with you!!!! She is not nice – – at all. I wonder…if she was not on tv…would her business last that long? And..I wonder…if she was not on TV….would she be that mean? And…..who would CONTINUE to be her clients? Word of mouth can sink a business………..I would begin the sinking of hers.
No way would she be that mean in real life — outside of a “reality” show…
She’s one of the worst people on these reality shows, and that is a long list of pretty crappy people too. Andy is just interested in getting richer and richer over doing the right thing these days, like fire Patty and bring the drama on the real housewives shows down a notch. Andy bears some responsibility here as well.
Quite right, Lynne. It’s unfortunate that money rules supreme here.