Here’s a dynamic duo we didn’t see coming but thoroughly enjoyed Sunday night: To kick off their week in Hollywood, Calif.—coupled with the airing of The Real Housewives of Atlanta’s 10th reunion special—Bravo’s Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen paired up NeNe Leakes and Emmy winner and RHOA superfan Lena Waithe for Sunday night’s broadcast.
The attendees taking advantage of California’s new marijuana laws to partake of cannabis-infused cocktails prepared by Chef Andrea Drummer (Waithe drank water), Leakes and Waithe dished with host Andy Cohen about RHOA, Waithe’s role in Steven Spielberg’s Ready Player One and Leakes’ changing looks (and lasting rivalries), and Waithe played a RHOA-themed round of the game “Fuck, Marry, Kill.” (The answers were predictably Porsha Williams, Leakes and Sheree Whitfield, in that order.)
But one of the best moments of the night was when Cohen asked Waithe for her thoughts on complaints that the Atlanta housewives aren’t positive representations of black womanhood. (The comment was purportedly made by cast member Kenya Moore’s new husband, Marc.) Waithe didn’t miss a beat before answering:
Well, look: I think that there’s many kinds of black women out there in the world, and I think that—look, sometimes we behave badly, sometimes we don’t; sometimes we have a bad day, sometimes a good day. But I think that all of it is valid; I think it’s important. Because ultimately, I like accurate representations of us, and I think all of these women are being their authentic selves. So I think we should also be embraced when we may not be, you know, feeling somebody one day or when we aren’t supporting somebody one day. I think it’s all valid.
We entirely agree. And watching Waithe, we couldn’t help wondering what the Atlanta housewives’ franchise might look like with even more diversity of black womanhood—especially when Waithe teased us with her hypothetical RHOA tagline: “The only thing I like to keep closeted are my sneakers.”