Kelly Dodd was dropped from her partnership with Positive Beverages due to her ‘controversial views and opinions’ on COVID-19.
The 45-year-old reality star first partnered with the brand in February 2019 and regularly promoted the sparkling beverage on her social media accounts and in episodes of the Real Housewives of Orange County.
On Saturday, Kelly and her friends toasted to being ‘super spreaders’ as they dined maskless in Newport Beach despite surging cases of the coronavirus throughout Southern California.
In response to being let go from the company, Kelly noted that she was ‘glad I could help put Positive Beverage on the map and wish them well.’
Out with the old: Kelly Dodd was dropped from her partnership with Positive Beverages due to her ‘controversial views and opinions’ on COVID-19
Optimistic: In response to being let go from the company, Kelly noted that she was ‘glad I could help put Positive Beverage on the map and wish them well.’
‘2020 has taught us that words have power and listening can unite … we listened to you and have an important action to share,’ the brand first shared.
“Our core values of wellness, community, diversity and inclusion should be reflected by our brand and anyone associated with it,” head of Brand Zach Muchnick comments, “it has become clear over the past few months that Kelly’s controversial views and opinions have distracted from our primary objectives, so effective today, we are no longer affiliated with Kelly Dodd-Leventhal.”
“We welcome all people – however they are and whatever they are passionate about – to Positive Beverage,” says CEO, Shannon Argyros, “but there must always be an underlying layer of respect. Unfortunately, we feel Kelly’s stance is no longer congruent with our core values. We appreciate her contributions during our affiliation, and she will always be a part of Positive Beverage’s history, but we do not align with her opinions or global views while we uphold our own values and the values of customers.”
‘2020 has taught us that words have power and listening can unite … we listened to you and have an important action to share,’ the brand first shared.
‘We welcome all people – however they are and whatever they are passionate about – to Positive Beverage,” says CEO, Shannon Argyros, “but there must always be an underlying layer of respect’
On Saturday, Kelly, her husband Rick Leventhal, 61, and a few friends were in a jovial mood while maskless at lunch, with attendees joking about the virus at one point and mockingly toasting to ‘super spreaders.’
Dodd claimed she was ‘getting a lot of hate for being at a restaurant we’re allowed to be at’ after California partially lifted dining restrictions amid the ongoing pandemic.
‘The sheeple are mad,’ she said. ‘I’m not a super spreader because there’s nothing to spread because we all got the vaccine and we don’t have it, so there’s nothing to spread about super spreaders.’
Done: The 45-year-old reality star first partnered with the brand in February 2019 and regularly promoted the sparkling beverage on her social media accounts and in episodes of the Real Housewives of Orange County
Not great: On Saturday, Kelly, her husband Rick Leventhal, 61, and a few friends were in a jovial mood while maskless at lunch, with attendees joking about the virus at one point and mockingly toasting to ‘super spreaders’
Defense: Dodd said on Instagram Stories, ‘I’m not a super spreader because there’s nothing to spread, because we all got the vaccine and we don’t have it, so there’s nothing to spread about super spreaders’
Blowback: Positive Beverage has cut its ties with Dodd amid the blowback of Saturday’s incident
Dodd seemed to take it in stride, saying on Twitter, ‘I’m glad I could help put Positive Beverage on the map and wish them well. I’m also really excited about my next venture in the beauty industry, which is my real passion. Stay tuned!’
Dodd on Friday said she was secure in her spot on RHOC and she was ‘not fired’ from the series, implying one-time costar Vicki Gunvalson was behind the rumors.
Kelly made headlines last April after saying on social media that she believed that the pandemic was ‘Gods way of thinning the herd’ as she argued with an Instagram user who called her out after taking a cross-country flight.
After a user wrote to Dodd, ‘If non-essential workers keep traveling back and forth like you, it will last longer,’ the reality star replied, ‘Do you know how many people died from the H1N1, the swine flu or SARS? It’s 25% get your facts straight you are only hearing numbers not the reality! It’s God’s way of thinning the herd!’
Yikes: Kelly made headlines last April after saying on social media that she believed that the pandemic was ‘Gods way of thinning the herd’
Unique toast: Dodd claimed she was ‘getting a lot of hate for being at a restaurant we’re allowed to be at’ after California partially lifted dining restrictions amid the ongoing pandemic
She subsequently apologized for the remarks and attempted to clarify her statement.
‘When I wrote that it’s “God’s way of thinning the herd,” that’s not what I meant,’ Dodd said on Instagram Stories. ‘What I meant was, “Do these pandemics happen because it’s God’s way?” I’m not God. I’m not insensitive.
‘I feel bad for all the families that have lost loved ones, and I do think we should all stay at home and protect everybody. That’s not what I meant, and I want to apologize to anyone who got offended, OK? I’m sorry.’
A number of fans on Twitter called for Dodd’s firing from the show
She apologized again last month appearing on Watch What Happens Live, saying of her past controversy: ‘It was insensitive and I apologize if I hurt or offended anybody.’
As of Sunday, on a global level, 2,226,935 people have died amid more than 102,922,990 positive diagnoses worldwide, according to Johns Hopkins University. The death total for COVID-19 in the U.S. was at 441,282 people, with 26,178,803 total positive diagnoses.
In Dodd’s home state of California, the state Department of Public Health reported that 481 coronavirus deaths were recorded Sunday, as the state’s death toll has surpassed 40,000.