The Real Friends of WeHo premiered on January 20 as MTV's newest venture, but while the series was created to promote inclusivity, RuPaul's Drag Race fans (and the LGBTQ+ community) are less than impressed. When it comes to reality television, MTV has been a pioneer for over 30 years. The Real World became a global phenomenon in the early 1990s, for instance, while True Life showcased hundreds of gritty, emotional, and controversial subjects between 1998 and 2017. Although it took almost ten years and 14 seasons to secure, there was a sense of excitement when MTV acquired the rights to RuPaul's Drag Race season 15 from VH1, ahead of its January 6 premiere.

While Ts Madison joined Michelle Visage, Carson Kressley, Ross Mathews and RuPaul's Drag Race creator RuPaul on the coveted judging panel, six prominent members of the LGTBQ+ community signed on for The Real Friends of WeHo. In addition to singer and choreographer Todrick Hall, the new series features Canada's Drag Race judge Brad Goreski, entrepreneur Dorion Renaud, actor Curtis Hamilton, social media influencer Joey Zauzig, and Jaymes Vaughan, who is married to Mean Girls star, Jonathan Bennett. Unfortunately, while The Real Friends of WeHo has gained the attention of RuPaul's Drag Race fans, it isn't exactly being complimented.

Related: Everything to Know About RuPaul’s Drag Race New Rotating Judge Ts Madison

RuPaul's Drag Race Fans Can't Stand Todrick Hall

Todrick is friends with RuPaul and other fan favorite queens like Bob The Drag Queen and Monét X Change, but he is nowhere near as popular among RuPaul's Drag Race fans. Although Todrick is the clear The Real Friends of WeHo face, and has found success as a content creator, he has been involved in several scandals, on and offscreen, which were exacerbated by his appearance on Celebrity Big Brother season 3 in 2022. From allegedly not paying employees to being sued for unpaid rent, Todrick's response to The Real Friends of WeHo's poor reception, which was re-shared by Reddit user u/ElevenOhSix, has only continued to decrease his overall popularity.

Todrick, who accused the LGBTQ+ community of hypocrisy, and doubled down on allegations against him in a detailed Instagram rant, infuriated RuPaul's Drag Race fans. The commenters quickly labeled him ignorant. "Stop blaming the community not supporting each other when the reality is, we don’t support YOU," one user on the Reddit thread remarked.

The Real Friends Of WeHo Lacks Actual Representation

The Real Friends of WeHo could have been a widely accepted and celebrated show among the LGBTQ+ community, like RuPaul's Drag Race. However, a major problem that MTV producers seemed to either gloss over, or miss entirely, is that the series doesn't bring anything new to the table. While The Real Housewives franchise is popular because of its healthy mix of humorous delusion and well-established connections, the cast members of The Real Friends of WeHo spent most of the first episode just going over their respective resumes and controversies; When he blatantly admitted that the group members weren't actually friends, Brad didn't help matters.

Unfortunately for MTV and the six men involved, they failed to realize that the LGBTQ+ community isn't going to watch a show just because its stars are gay. A series actually has to have substance behind it. "I get representation matters, but just because I'm gay doesn't mean I'm going to support garbage," Jade Jolie from RuPaul's Drag Race season 5 summarized on Twitter.

Related: Canada's Drag Race: Icesis Couture's Age, Bio & Instagram

Fans Aren't Happy That RuPaul's Drag Race Was Cut

While The Real Friends of WeHo hasn't impressed viewers with its material, MTV's fatal mistake was choosing to air the series in between RuPaul's Drag Race season 15 and its behind-the-scenes spin-off, RuPaul's Drag Race: Untucked. Even worse, MTV deliberately reduced Drag Race season 15 from 90 minutes to 60, in order to accommodate The Real Friends of WeHo. However, with commercials, the runtime is really somewhere around 45 minutes.

Almost immediately after the news was announced, a petition began to circulate, which called for the network to reverse that decision. When Reddit user u/OceanicAirline815 re-shared the Change.org petition on January 15, there were over 15,000 signatures. As of January 24, there are over 31,000. While the RuPaul's Drag Race season 15 queens have won over fans, The Real Friends of WeHo clearly can't say the same.

More: RuPaul's Drag Race Season 15 Queens Who Made Amazing First Impressions

Sources: u/ElevenOhSix/Reddit, Jade Jolie/Twitter, u/OceanicAirline815/Reddit, Change.org