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'RHOP' Season 8 star Gizelle Bryant called out for playing 'victim' amid Candiace Bassett's colorism accusations

Gizelle Bryant is adamant and she is not interested in mending ties with Candiace

AUSTIN, TEXAS: Gizelle Bryant opted to retrace the road of feeling targeted by colorism claims on the most recent episode of 'The Real Housewives of Potomac'.

However, it is such a weak position that many are amazed that she opted to return to it merely to rehash it with her co-star Candiace Dillard Bassett.

Gizelle is adamant — she is not interested in mending ties with Candiace and considers her actions to be hazardous and terrible.

Fans could have given Gizelle some leeway to work with if she had taken a shine to Candace's petty antics in the episode from December 17.

In retrospect, the perplexing and inconsistent behavior only exacerbated an already delicate issue, prompting Gizelle to rally behind her friend. Rather than confronting the evident problem of colorism, she chooses to relive the experience of being unfairly targeted.

The original cast of "Potomac" comprises four light-skinned Black women, embedding colorism into the show's fabric from its inception due to its hierarchical structure. Gizelle's reluctance to acknowledge this systemic issue and treat it as a personal dispute seems incongruous with her background as an HBCU alum.

Viewers, no longer willing to trivialize the matter, find it difficult to find humor in the situation. Despite Candiace's current status as a temporal figure of horror, the undeniable reality remains, underscored by Gizelle's own beautiful brown-skinned children.

On X, fans wrote, "Gizelle wants to be a victim so bad and she’s always been allergic to accountability. She’s just mad that Candiace RIGHTFULLY called her a colorist. Gizelle has a deep rooted issue with dark skinned women and she lets that mask slip every time." While another user chimed in, "I'm confused by this victim narrative gizelle and robyn are pushing, when candiace LITERALLY only came for them because of the harassment allegations."

Others pointed out, "Gizelle is a benefactor of light-skinned privilege by way of her proximity to whiteness. There are no ifs, ands, or buts about it. That so many will defend Gizelle's mess, while condemning Candiace or Wendy at every turn proves that much. She'll never acknowledge it, though." A fourth user tweeted, "The hypocrisy of Gizelle calling Candiace a b***h after all the allegations she’s made about husbands throughout every season is ridiculous. Candiace isn’t sure she can be friends with Robyn because she’s friends with Gizelle and Wendy encourages her to make up with Robyn." 

One user asked, "Robyn initially defended Candiace & told Gizelle her story about Chris was a reach. Gizelle continued to run with the story about Chris & Robyn said nothing. How is Candiace the bad guy again?!?!" Another added, "Gizelle has really placed herself into the victim category because Candiace wouldn’t let Gizelle run a narrative about her husband." 

What caused the feud between Candiace Dillard Bassett and Gizelle Bryant?

Gizelle's accusations that Candiace's chef spouse, Chris Bassett, made her feel "completely uncomfortable" during a private talk backstage at the 'RHOP' Season 6 Reunion are at the root of much of the hostility between the Potomac ladies.

"Many a married man have tried me, and I felt like it was a situation in which he was tryin’ to see if I was with it," Gizelle told fellow 'RHOP' housewife Robyn Dixon during Season 7 of the show.

She added, "He was complaining about his wife. So he was letting me know he was unhappy. Maybe I was supposed to say, ‘Oh, I can make you happy.’ Like, get out of here."

When Gizelle confronted Candiace about the chat, the 'Drive Back' singer abruptly ended it, although she subsequently addressed the charges on social media.

"The first & most relevant thing I can say is that it’s hard to say anything at all because I #supportwomen I #believewomen and I support #metoo," she posted on X.

"I can’t tell a woman how to feel about a man’s presence in her orbit," she said, adding, "We are entitled to our feelings and they should never be diminished or questioned."

She did, however, term the allegations against her husband "appalling," and she speculated that Gizelle may have been prompted to fabricate the charges "all in the name of...entertainment."

During the emotional Season 7 reunion, Chris and Candiace both denied Gizelle's charges.

"What did I do?" Chris questioned, refuting Gizelle's claims. She said, "I've suffered through this for months, losing clients, losing money, answering to my family."

Candiace Dillard Bassett called 'RHOP' costar Gizelle Bryant 'demon'

Candiace referred to Gizelle as a "demon" when describing the pair's experience filming Season 3 of 'The Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip' on Page Six's 'Virtual Reali-Tea' podcast.

"I’m around all these new girls. The one girl that I know really well is a demon, so, like, who are my friends? I felt just alone," she stated of her Thailand vacation.

The one person she stated she knew she wouldn't be able to rely on? Gizelle, one of her co-stars.

"You can't expect humanity from just a rock," Candiace told Page Six, "Rocks don't have feelings."

The women retaliated verbally in October after Gizelle addressed Chris' apparently suspicious conduct on her 'Reasonably Shady' podcast with Robyn.

"If you would just shut the f**k up and worry about your boyfriends for hire and cheating husbands, you wouldn’t have to post ‘proof’ that you weren’t behind yet another plot against someone’s family," Candiace said in response to the podcast in an October 28 post on X.

She added, "Once again, the people of God are tired."

Gizelle Bryant swears she 'will never be addressing' 'RHOP' costar Candiace Dillard Bassett

Gizelle quickly retracted her statement, telling Entertainment Tonight, "I don't even know what the hell is going on" in Candiace's house, and she doesn't want to find out.

"I don't care what she says on Twitter at all, and clearly she should be concerned about what's going on in her bedroom, 'cause unfortunately, we've all seen what she sleeps with ... unfortunately," she said in response, "My DMs was DM-ing, OK?"

She also refuted Candiace's assertion that she was making the statements to divert attention away from the adultery suspicions swirling about Robyn's husband, Juan Dixon.

"Absolutely not," she said.

"If there's anything that's out there on social, yeah, Robyn and I are gonna talk about it," she said.

She added, "We have a podcast to talk about such things. So, that is what we did. But no, Robyn's — whatever's going on at Robyn's house is what's going on at Robyn's house."

In terms of Gizelle and Candiace, the former pastor's wife reacted to Candiace's claim that her 'Winter House' beau, Jason Cameron, was a "boyfriend for hire."

"I don't do that," Gizelle stated, adding that the couple is dating and having a good time.

But don't expect her to bring it up with Candiace anytime soon.

"I don't speak to her, so I will never be addressing her," she stated.

'The Real Housewives of Potomac' Season 8 airs on Bravo on Sundays at 8 pm ET