Reality TV star Chrishell Stause has denied a follower’s request after they told her to stop posting about politics on social media.
On Thursday, Stause, a regular on Netflix‘s real estate show Selling Sunset, shared a clip of Barack Obama’s speech during the second night of the Democratic National Convention. She said she is “feeling hopeful” about the upcoming election.
Two decades after his breakout speech at the 2004 convention, Obama returned to his hometown of Chicago to endorse Vice President Kamala Harris and pay tribute to his former running mate President Joe Biden. Stause reshared a video from Obama’s social media account to her Instagram story, highlighting some of his speech from the night.
“I am feeling hopeful because this convention has always been pretty good to kids with funny names who believe in a country where anything is possible,” the former president said in the clip.
“Feeling hopeful. Thank you @barackobama @kamalaharris,” Stause wrote over the top of the video. However, not everyone is happy with her decision to do so. Newsweek emailed a spokesperson for Stause for comment on Thursday.
Jerod Harris/Getty Images for Netflix
Following this post, the reality star shared a screenshot of a message she received from a follower, which read: “I’m sorry but really wish you didn’t put any politics in your socials, you’re entitled to your opinions but I hate your pushing that opinion toward your following. Save that for a private page.”
Stause proved she wasn’t going to listen to anyone who may disagree with her posting about politics, writing: “I don’t get super political on here, but I see nothing wrong with saying that this made me feel hopeful. I understand if that bothers some, but I would MUCH rather lose followers than have [Donald] Trump as president again.”
Trump is aiming to make a historic comeback in November, this time taking on Harris, the presumptive Democratic nominee who emerged swiftly after President Joe Biden announced his exit from the race. Harris is expected to formally accept the Democratic nomination in a speech on August 22, after securing enough delegates to become the party’s nominee.
As of August 21, Harris leads the former president in five swing states, having wiped out or narrowed his advantage, according to FiveThirtyEight’s poll tracker.
This poll was shared as the DNC was underway, which is a four-day-long convention that started on August 19 and will be running through to August 22.
Stause doesn’t often discuss politics on social media, but in June 2022, she condemned on X (formerly Twitter) the overturning of Roe vs. Wade, the 1973 ruling that the Constitution of the United States generally protected a right to have an abortion.
Had this conversation yesterday on IG but let me be clear here too. I always stand w/ women & their right to THEIR bodies. I don’t have the bandwidth to argue w/ anyone. So talk among yourselves. Or tap that unfollow button if you hoped I was a conservative from KY realtor😘
— Chrishell Stause (@Chrishell7) June 26, 2022
“Had this conversation yesterday on IG [Instagram] but let me be clear here too. I always stand w/ women & their right to THEIR bodies. I don’t have the bandwidth to argue w/ anyone. So talk among yourselves. Or tap that unfollow button if you hoped I was a conservative from KY [Kentucky] realtor,” she wrote.
Days after the post, Stause expanded on her political opinions and her thoughts on abortion in an interview with the magazine Vogue.
“I come from Kentucky, so I am friends with many people who disagree with me politically, so I’m always trying to come from a place of understanding and bridging that gap between ideas. Maybe because of being from Kentucky, I understand the conservative side, but I’m very much not conservative. It’s frustrating to feel like we’re going back in time,” Stause said.
“You know, I saw a tweet the other day that was, sadly, so on point—it said, ‘Hey, guys, for Daylight Savings, don’t forget to turn your clock back 50 years.’ So many rights are on the table, and I just think this is a really dangerous road that we’re headed down. It’s going to take not just the Democratic Party, but people from all sides to say that this isn’t right.”
Stause added: “I really strongly believe that if men were the ones that had babies, this would not be a conversation!”