Joel Kim Booster Apologizes for Calling ‘Housewives’ Star Shannon Beador a ‘Pathetic Drunk’: ‘I Let an Onset Conflict Cloud My Judgment’
by Jordan Moreau · VarietyActor Joel Kim Booster, who’s hosting the upcoming “Real Housewives” dating show “Love Hotel” for Peacock, has apologized to “Housewives” star Shannon Beador after calling her a “pathetic drunk” on social media.
In a series of since-deleted Instagram Stories late last month, Booster called the “Real Housewives of Orange County” star a “pathetic drunk,” and alleged that she mistreated the production staff. He wrote, “Just because you’re a pathetic drunk on a reality television show best known for a string of failed relationships and a DUI does not give you license to treat the people you work with like they are subhuman.”
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On Friday, Booster apologized to Beador, and said “an onset conflict clouded my judgement and accessed the darkest, ugliest part of myself.”
“Re: The ‘Housewives’ of it all, I’ve had a lot of time to think and process about this and I wish I could say that I was not the guy who posted those statements on Instagram, but the fact is that I am. I let an onset conflict cloud my judgment and accessed the darkest, ugliest part of myself and said things I don’t stand by or even believe and I am deeply sorry that allowed my worst self to cloud my judgment,” he wrote on his Instagram Story. “I know Shannon has had an extraordinarily hard year as she has bravely shared and as someone who has struggles of their own that have spilled over into work, I should have had more grace for her in that moment.”
At a fan Q&A event earlier this month, Beador said she didn’t know why Booster made the comments about her, and at the wrap party for “Love Hotel” he “had tears in his eyes, and he said, ‘I’m so happy for you.’”
“He says that I’m nothing but a pathetic drunk and it’s really going to look silly for him because he had nothing but love for me the entire show,” Beador said. “What I’m sad about is that I did some kind things on the show and people said it was kind. It’s hard for me to walk away from an experience that I really enjoy. But we’ll see what happens. I don’t know where it came from, I really don’t.”
Booster added, “I am deeply sorry for the ways in which I’ve made Shannon’s road toward stability more difficult, and hope that she makes it out the other side of this stronger, healthier and with the love that she deserves in her life. I regret making this a part of the story of our show, as I’m deeply proud of the work myself, the ladies and the crew put into making it.”