Orthodox Jew and outspoken Zionist Lizzy Savetsky was chosen over the summer to help fill out the cast of the self-consciously “diverse” reboot of Bravo’s classic “Real Housewives of New York City” — but she left the show mid-taping after a number of awkward culture clashes on-and-off camera, plus an avalanche of anti-Semitic online abuse.
And we hear the abuse has gone up a notch.
Savetsky’s family is installing security equipment, we hear, after hate mail arrived at her husband’s office with “KKK” scrawled on the envelope and a vile slur written on it.
Now pals of Savetsky have reached out to Page Six wondering where Bravo is while its star-that-never-was suffers the consequences of their joint adventure into the risky territory of mixing orthodox religion with the patented “Housewives” drama.
Sources in Savetsky’s circle say that they’re surprised to learn that the network hasn’t reached out to her since her uncomfortable exit to check on her, or to offer assistance with the turbo-charged cyber bullying.
She later posted on Instagram, “As a proud orthodox Jewish woman, I thought participating in this series would be a great chance to represent people like me and share my experience. Unfortunately, from the time of my announcement in the cast, I was on the receiving end of a torrent of anti-Semitic attacks. As this continued, I realized that this path was no longer right for me and my family.”
Before she was cast, Savetsky was a high-profile online influencer — and was the target of serious online rage as both an outspoken Zionist and a member of the Orthodox community.
In November, Page Six broke the news that the influencer had left the show weeks after filming began.
We later revealed there was more to the story. According to insiders, a woman of color on the cast used the N-word, and believing that the woman intended to tell people that the Savetskys had used that word, the outraged husband repeated the word — in full — in front of producers. The couple and the network mutually agreed that they should leave the production.
Bravo declined to comment.