Newbie Annemarie Wiley has been spotted filming for RHOBH Season 13 just as her husband Marcellus Wiley’s controversial and potentially anti-trans tweets are resurfacing.
Ever since Annemarie’s surprise casting was announced via a PEOPLE exclusive earlier this week, TV Deets has been inundated with tips about her husband’s shady online past and the newbie’s potentially problematic social views and what we have discovered doesn’t exactly put Bravo — or The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills — in the best light.
As recently as last month, Marcellus Wiley made headlines for going after former NBA player Dwyane Wayde and his actress wife Gabrielle Union after they revealed publicly that their daughter Zaya Wade had been granted a name and gender change after coming out as transgendered almost three years ago.
He has also been in the news for sharing allegedly anti-trans views on his podcast, More To It With Marcellus Wiley.
Marcellus Wiley offers up parenting tips
According to Marcellus, Dwyane and Gabrielle should be taking parenting tips from former NBA star Magic Johnson, the father of reality star EJ Johnson.
“Magic has talked about this and his son being openly gay,” said the former Buffalo Bills defensive end in a long and somewhat rambling Youtube video. “You can sit there all you want and say A,B, C for my kid, but one thing I know about kids…You create them, but you can’t control them.”
He continued, “Now here’s the rub of this story… You put now the child first, but the child is not making an informed decision because it is impossible to make an informed decision as a child.”
Despite Zaya being Dwyane and Gabrielle’s child and not Marcellus’, he seemingly takes issue with her name and gender change because she is a minor (Zaya Wade is 15 years old).
After Jemele Hill called out Marcellus’ comments, he posted another YouTube video defending his anti-trans views and criticizing the former ESPN host for getting involved.
Controversial tweets
While Marcellus comments on a variety of controversial sports topics on his podcast and YouTube channel, it was clear when TV Deets reviewed his posts that a majority of them have to do with transgendered women participating in sports. In fact, we discovered a tweet posted back in January 2021 that seemed to suggest he started his podcast in an effort to push his controversial views.
In another post, Marcellus clarifies that he does not have issues with the trans community in general, just those who want to play sports.
“I have no issue with transgenders, but I do have an issue with athletes who are transgender women trying to compete against biological women,” he posted. “Not against the Wiley Women!”
The controversy extends past the trans community, however, with Marcellus also going after Colin Kaepernick.
In a podcast episode back in 2019, Marcellus openly questioned Kaepernick’s “blackness” and said he was wrong for kneeling in the first place… something Jemele Hill also took issue with at the time, according to a report from TMZ.
In a 2020 tweet, Marcellus denied that white privilege exists.
“White privilege doesn’t exist,” he posted. “U know what it implies-Black Disadvantage! The son, man, husband, father, and victor in me would never buy into such a limiting thought. My skin is not a sin! I stand tall, not slouched, on my parents & ancestors endured shoulders!”
While most of the controversial social media behaviour stems from Marcellus, Annemarie has also raised eyebrows for allegedly re-posting an anti-trans message to her Instagram Story following this week’s shocking school shooting in Nashville, Tennesse.
Hired by Bravo
As previously reported, Annemarie Wiley will be appearing on RHOBH Season 13 and will be introduced to the group via Kyle Richards, according to PEOPLE. She was seen filming scenes for the show just days ago (Thursday, March 30) in Beverly Hills.
While it is totally within Marcellus’ right to post what he wants on social media, he is clearly playing to a particular audience with his tweets, podcast episodes, and YouTube clips and the fact that he got into a (or tried to, at least!) public feud with Dwyane and Gabrielle really says it all.
This wouldn’t be the first time Bravo has cast someone potentially problematic but featuring Marcellus on RHOBH could seem out of step with the network’s current goals. Bravo, in particular, has a massive LGBTQ+ fanbase so being faced with someone on a weekly basis who holds potentially problematic views could be triggering, to say the least.
According to our insiders, the cast is not yet aware of Annemarie and her husband’s social media posts — but they will be now. The real question is who will be the first to address the issue on camera?
The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills is currently in production on Season 13 and will premiere later this year.
