Kandi Burruss is doubling down on her defense of Kenya Moore.
Following Moore’s suspension and subsequent firing from “The Real Housewives of Atlanta” Season 16 for allegedly sharing explicit images of a new castmate, Burruss tells Page Six’s “Virtual Reali-Tea” podcast why she is extending grace to the former Miss USA.
“The show is wild, right? We’ve had some crazy things happen on our show,” Burruss — who departed the unscripted series this year following 14 consecutive seasons — says while promoting her Hydroxycut partnership.
“And a lot of people are like, ‘How can you support that?’ And I’m like, at the end of the day, she didn’t make up anything about somebody,” the Xscape singer, 48, continues. “Now she pulled some unfavorable receipts offline, which may not have been the nicest thing to do.”
As Page Six exclusively reported, Moore shocked party attendees at her salon grand opening earlier this month with posters of Bravo rookie Brittany Eady allegedly performing oral sex.
Bravo cameras were rolling at the cast event, where Moore unveiled the X-rated photos. Eady, 36, was not present for the display.
An insider insisted to us that the pics in question were “readily accessible” online and went on to claim that Eady had made threats to Moore, 53, using the word “gun” before the event.
However, a production source told us, “At no time was Kenya ever threatened with a weapon, nor was there ever a weapon present during the course of production.”
Page Six exclusively revealed that Moore was subsequently suspended from filming. On Tuesday, we confirmed that she is not coming back for the remainder of Season 16.
After the drama made waves on the internet, Moore wrote via her Instagram Story, “Believe none of what you hear and half of what you see. The truth always comes to light.”
The Kenya Moore Hair Care founder then asserted in an X post that she “would never engage in revenge porn” and has “never distributed private images or footage of anyone, nor solicited images owned by others to use to threaten or blackmail.”
Burruss, who has been in touch with Moore in the wake of the fracas, hints that the latter was provoked — and emphasizes that cast members shouldn’t expect to have control over one’s response to on-camera conflict.
“The ladies on our show and on different shows on reality TV, when you say something to someone or you make a threat or you come at somebody in a negative way, you do not get to determine how strong the shade or whatever it is that’s coming back at you. So that is my thing,” she opines.
“I’m like, ‘When did the rules become she had to be nice about it?’ So … I can’t really get with the hateration.”
According to Burruss, Moore seems “OK” even as she’s shut out from Season 16 production.
“Of course, she hates that I’m not there to support her. I hate I’m not there to support her,” she says before quipping, “Well, not really. I actually am kind of glad I’m not there, but I still want to support her!”
Last week, Burruss said on the Yung Joc & The Streetz Morning Takeover radio show that she “[didn’t] like” that Moore has been barred from shooting “RHOA.”
“I know a lot of people are like, ‘She shouldn’t have shown that,’ but this is ‘Housewives,’” she stated. “Why y’all all of a sudden have such an issue with somebody doing something crazy to somebody?”
“RHOA” is returning with both “Atlanta” vets and fresh faces from the Big A.
The cast features returning stars Porsha Williams and Drew Sidora. Longtime “friend of” the cast Shamea Morton is picking up a peach for the first time, while Eady, author Kelli Ferrell and real estate mogul Angela Oakley will be making their debuts as “Housewives.”
Bravo has yet to announce a premiere date.