Bethenny Frankel had some fans in an uproar on Saturday with a Cinco de Mayo-themed Instagram post that they believed went too far.
The picture shows Frankel and her two dogs nestled on the carpet in front of the couch. Frankel and both of her dogs wear sombreros in the image, and she has a plastic necklace shaped like a pepper on a string of beads round her neck. She’s also holding two tiny maracas, wearing sunglasses shaped like margaritas, and wearing a cartoonish mustache.
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“Happy [Cinco de Mayo] from me and [Biggy Smallz]!” she wrote. “ยกOlรจ!”
Frankel received a lot of backlash in the comments section, so much that she took the post down shortly after.
“I love you but this is offensive. Take it down,” one fan commented.
“Ok, you can’t criticize Luanne for her Diana Ross costume and then post a pic like this,” another fan wrote.
Of course, many fans jumped to Frankel’s defense before the post was taken down. Some pointed out Frankel’s extensive catastrophe relief efforts, including those in Mexico last year after the series of devastating earthquakes. Those fans allowed that Frankel’s post was a little “off,” but said that she had still done more for Mexican people than her detractors.
Frankel spent much of last fall working on relief efforts for Puerto Rico and other places ravaged by Hurricane Maria. The storm hit at the end of September, and federal aid was slow to reach Puerto Rico.
Since the storm hit the American Commonwealth, many have been criticized for slow response time, or failing to provide aid altogether — including the president himself. Frankel is one of the few celebrities who have taken a vested personal interest in helping the thousands of islanders still trapped without food, clean water, or access to power.
Frankel was outspoken on social media, centering her relief efforts around her charity organization, B Strong. However, the scope of Puerto Rico’s needs necessitate that she work with other charities and companies, and now that it’s time to pay up, they’re not meeting her expectations.
Frankel’s followers were shocked to hear that some companies, let alone charities, were going back on promises to help with relief efforts, but many were grateful for her transparency. The conversation stirred up produced a lot of different philosophies on where donations and relief efforts could be most effective. Frankel seems to have achieved her goals despite these setbacks.
