Bravo Andy Cohen
Andy Cohen found himself in defense mode on his own show. During the July 26, 2022 episode of “Watch What Happens Live,” the Bravo host got into it with guest Jeff Lewis, and a “Real Housewives“star was caught in the middle of it.
Lewis headlined the long-running Bravo reality show “Flipping Out” from 2007 to 2018 as well as the spinoff, “Interior Therapy with Jeff Lewis,” per IMDb. But his latest show, “Hollywood Houselift,” is not on Bravo and instead airs on Amazon Freevee. Lewis is also the host of the “Jeff Lewis Live” radio show on Sirius XM’s Radio Andy, but that didn’t stop him from totally flipping out on Cohen on WWHL.
Jeff Lewis Accused Andy Cohen of ‘Voting Against’ Him to Cancel ‘Flipping Out’
Longtime fans know that Cohen was in charge of programming for Bravo starting in 2004 as Vice President, Original Programming and, later, Executive Vice President of Development and Talent from 2011 to 2014, per his Bravo bio.
During an awkward exchange with Lewis on the “Watch What Happens Live Aftershow” (seen in the Instagram video above), Cohen’s past as a Bravo bigwig was thrown in his face after he questioned if Lewis was living his life in “gratitude.”
“Are you kidding me? What did I say before the show? I said you’ve given me two careers,” Lewis told Cohen. “And because of that I love you and I am grateful for you. So don’t say I don’t [live my life in gratitude]… I do and I’d kill for you.”
Fellow guest Cynthia Bailey chimed in to talk about her exit from “The Real Housewives of Atlanta” in 2021 after 11 seasons. “I never got a phone call from you guys saying “Hey you need to step it up, you need to do this…” she told Cohen as she explained her easy RHOA exit.
But then, Lewis brought up his canceled reality show.
“I was there 11 years before you fired me,” Lewis said, in reference to “Flipping Out.”
Cohen claimed he didn’t fire anyone. “Sweetie, I was not in charge of programming at Bravo at the time,” he reminded Lewis.
“But you voted against me,” Lewis said. “But whatever, it doesn’t matter.”
“You asked me whether I would have voted against you, and I said I thought it was time for ‘Flipping Out’ to end,” an irritated Cohen said.
Lewis ended the argument by telling Cohen, “You gave me radio and I love it so much.”
Fans reacted to the argument on social media.
“I knew this was coming but i never thought it would happen on wwhl! it seems like they have some weird love hate relationship & this was building up for years since flipping out got cancelled but they try not to get into it cus i think something similar started to happen last time jeff was on wwhl but i guess tonight was the night & he had enough,” one fan wrote on Instagram.
“Jeff brought the mess hunny I love this!! I like how he keeps Andy on his toes baby!!!!” another wrote.
Others said they want to see Lewis back on Bravo and that he would be a great guest host on ‘Watch What Happens Live.”
Cohen & Lewis Have Had a Rollercoaster Relationship
GettyJeff Lewis hosts a special edition of his SiriusXM Radio Andy show in front of a live studio audience at SiriusXM Studios on December 19, 2019 in Los Angeles, California.
Lewis once compared his relationship with Cohen to that of a sibling. In 2018, he got under Cohen’s skin with a social media post as he waited for word on renewal for “Flipping Out” for a 12th season. In a doctored photo shared on his Instagram page, Lewis was seen standing in front of a whiteboard with his photo on it and his face crossed out. He added messages that included “Contract expired,” “Your 15 minutes are up,” and “11 years of hell,” per TooFab.
According to Lewis, Cohen responded to his joke by sending him a series of annoyed texts.
“As you know, Andy Cohen has been known to lose his temper with me,” Lewis said on his radio show in 2018, per People. “After 11 years, we’ve been very much of a sibling type of a relationship.”
Lewis then read texts that he alleged were from Cohen, explaining, “I normally would never read his texts on air — but the reason I would read this is that he has changed his strategy with me,” Lewis told his listeners. “Yesterday, I think when it happened, he thought, ‘I’m not getting through to him by screaming at him. I’m not getting through to him by writing nasty, threatening texts.’”
Lewis read texts from Cohen in which the WWHL host said he “highly” doubted Bravo would appreciate his behavior.
“Looks to me like you’re vilifying the network,” Cohen allegedly wrote. “They usually pick up shows after they finish their season. But maybe you want to let competitors know you are open for business, which you are definitely doing. …You’re just pissing everyone there off again and making them think Bravo is canceling the show, which doesn’t make them look good.”
“Flipping Out” was canceled later that year and Lewis’ contract was not renewed by Bravo.
In February 2021, Lewis was a guest on the “Watch What Happens Live Aftershow” where Cohen admitted that they butted heads a few years prior. “We had a little bit of a hiccup a year or two ago,” Cohen said of Lewis. “But Jeff and I are great and I would consider him a personal friend.”
The two also disagreed about what went down after Cohen welcomed his first child, Ben, in 2019. After Cohen told Lewis he felt it was “odd” he didn’t hear from him after his son’s birth, Lewis fired back with, “Are you kidding? I even asked about sending a gift and you said ‘Don’t send me a gift because I’ve received thousands of gifts.’”