The media crisis is really exploding within Bravo as Andy Cohen has become the focus of criticism after a widely circulated clip shows the Watch What Happens Live boss allegedly mocking Teresa Giudice's eldest daughter Gia Giudice amid rumors that she has been suspended from Next Gen NYC
In the video, Andy appeared at an off-air backstage event and made sarcastic comments when referring to Gia, saying that she tried to express herself deeply but it was like she was reading her mother's script from 2012
Immediately after this clip was leaked on social media, the RHONJ and Next Gen fan communities were furious and criticized Andy for being unprofessional, discriminatory, and passive-aggressive towards the younger members of the franchise
But most notable was the reaction of Teresa Giudice, who is said to have directly called Bravo's senior leadership the night the clip went viral to express her outrage
Inside sources reveal Teresa revealed to DailyMail that she was extremely angry that Andy was deliberately trying to smear her daughter and hurt Gia's image at a time when she was under great psychological pressure due to rumors of being suspended from the new show
A three-page email, allegedly drafted by Teresa's lawyer, was sent to Bravo with the content demanding Andy Cohen to publicly apologize or her family would consider withdrawing from all current shows and not participating in any BravoCon events this year
Gia has now canceled all filming schedules and withdrawn from the group tapings of Next Gen NYC, a close friend of hers told DailyMail that Gia felt betrayed and demotivated when the person she once trusted as an icon of the network turned around and publicly mocked her
On social media, many viewers also spoke up to demand Bravo to take specific action, with the hashtag #RespectGiaGiudice going viral with thousands of shares in just 12 hours
At the same time, a behind-the-scenes clip dug up from earlier this year showed Andy and some of the production members joked about Next Gen needing to purge old faces to create a media push, further fueling the outrage
Some of Gia's co-stars like Frankie Jr and Victoria Caputo have also unfollowed Andy Cohen on Instagram, leading many to believe that the situation within Next Gen is "as tense as a string"
Andy Cohen has remained silent without any comments while Bravo said they are looking into the matter
A source close to Bravo revealed that if Teresa were to leave the RHONJ ecosystem, it would be the biggest shock to the franchise in the past 10 years and it would cause an uncontrollable domino effect
This drama is considered one of the biggest crises Andy Cohen has ever faced in his more than two-decade long reality TV career
