Kathy Hilton Under Fire After Mistaking Lizzo for ‘Precious’ Actress Gabourey Sidibe

Watch What Happens Live host Andy Cohen had his guest Kathy Hilton play a game called “Will! Kathy! Know Them?” on the Wednesday (Aug. 10) episode — and it didn’t go very well. Not only was the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star unable to properly identify one of the world’s most famous modern musicians — Lizzo — she also mistook the “About Damn Time” singer for Gabourey Sidibe’s title character in Precious in an uncomfortable moment that didn’t sit right with a lot of people at home.

During the game, Cohen displayed a photo of Lizzo and asked if Hilton knew who the Grammy winner was. “I feel like I do,” the socialite said, before naming the main character of Sidibe’s 2009 breakout film. “Precious?”

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Cohen, along with everyone else onstage, immediately started laughing, while Hilton and her RHOBH costar Crystal Kung Minkoff tried to play down the faux pas. “She is precious though,” Minkoff joked. “Lizzo is precious.”

“That’s what I call her!” added Hilton. “Her nickname is Precious to me.”

But while Cohen and his guests seemed to think the moment was hilarious, many weren’t laughing along with them. Several viewers took to Twitter to voice their disappointment in both Hilton for making the comment, and everyone else on the show for how they reacted, pointing out that “Precious” — albeit the name of an inspiring film about an overweight, illiterate young Black girl who overcomes her family’s abuse — has often been used as an insult against plus-size Black women.

“Kathy Hilton d–n well know Lizzo ain’t Precious, a FICTIONAL character,” tweeted one person. “That’s mad disrespectful, racist, and fatphobic.”

“When Precious came out, a lot of people used the character’s name as a derogatory label to fuel their fatphobia and to bully,” wrote another. “So no, I don’t think that it’s funny that Lizzo, home minding her own business, had to watch herself be called Precious in front of millions on live tv.”

Sidibe was nominated for the 2010 best actress Oscar and Golden Globe for her portrayal of the character.

Watch the moment Kathy Hilton mistook Lizzo for Gabourey Sidibe’s character Precious, along with some viewers’ reactions, below:

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