Real Friends of WeHo's Dorión Calls Out Show's Lies & Manipulations

The Real Friends of WeHo has been plagued with drama since it began airing two weeks ago and cast member Dorion Renaud, who has been suspiciously quiet about the show since it began, has broken his silence to spill all the tea.

The newly announced series started off on the wrong leg when MTV shortened RuPaul's Drag Race episodes from 90 minutes to 60, as fans believed, to make room for RFoW. Drag Race fans quickly began dragging the show, which suffered even more after cast member Todrick Hall tried to guilt the LGBTQ+ community into supporting it..

Renaud, who was embroiled in a heated argument with Joey in the first couple of episodes, shared his point of view in a new interview from LoveBScott. about how he was misled by production.

"I was approached back in March of 2021," said Renaud. "It was pitched to me as The A-List: Los Angeles, it was supposed to be a reboot of the series The A-List: New York. I was told it was going to be a docuseries style that followed me working on my brand and showing parts of my personal life.

The A-List: New York aired from 2010 to 2011 on Logo and followed NYC's supposed "gay elite."

"I was told the show would be on the streaming service Paramount+," Renaud says. "I initially said no several times, but finally signed my contract at the last minute."

Poduction was tight-lipped, he says, on who was actually on the show, and he didn't know until he was interacting with other cast members. "Aside from Curtis [Hamilton] who I’ve been friends with for a few years, I had no idea who was on the show until filming. I was home filming stuff with [his business] Buttah for 2 weeks before I even met the cast."

Renaud says that "during the process of them courting me, production told me names of people who were being approached." These names allegedly included NSYNC member Lance Bass, his husband Michael Turchin, and the nephew of the owner and president of the Los Angeles Lakers, Riley Buss. He did not hear Chris Salvatore though, who alleged on Twitter that the cast had a problem with him having an OnlyFans and asked him to be removed from the show. "Production kept me in the dark for so long about the cast, there’s no way I could say who comes and goes."

Renaud didn't know of the name change or that it would air on MTV until the press release came out.

"We had no idea it was going to MTV and that it would take away from Drag Race. I watch Drag Race and I love Ru, he’s iconic. Again, I was still under the impression this was the A-List: Los Angeles for Paramount+ so I was shocked to find out it was going to MTV. I didn’t sign up for MTV. I also didn’t see the poster beforehand."

The poster might be a sore spot for Renaud as it positions him as if he's looking down on the rest of the cast.

"I saw it at the same time as everyone else and that’s where I had a serious issue. They promoted the show as 6 gay men living in West Hollywood who are friends, first I don’t live in West Hollywood, I live in the valley, I love the valley. I never go to West Hollywood, I’m not in that scene. Aside from Curtis I wasn’t friends with any of the cast. I also have never confirmed or talked about my sexuality. I felt betrayed because they have me identifying as something I’m not. I’m Dorion Renaud."

So they're not actually friends and they don't live in West Hollywood. Who would've thought reality TV could be so fake!

"I was filming under the impression this was a docuseries that was following me the businessman," concluded. "I was definitely misled; I can’t speak on what my other cast members were told."

Needless to say, Renaud is not happy about the show turned out and swears that this interview will be the one and only time he speaks about it.

"It’s crazy we are getting no support. There are people saying the most negative stuff online, some have gotten death threats and we aren’t getting any support from the network or production company. It’s not the cast fault that we ended up on MTV. I would not have signed on to this show if I knew about the name change, the theme of the show changing and the network change. I don’t feel comfortable representing a city/community that I’m not a part of."

A new episode of Real Friends of WeHo airs tonight at 9pm on MTV.