Andy Cohen Grilled for Saying He Hoped Convicted Fraudster Jen Shah Would Get No Jail Time

Andy Cohen found himself in the hot seat for some of his on-air comments regarding Jen Shah.

He was asked by CNN’s Chris Wallace why he said he hoped Jen Shah would get no jail time after she pleaded guilty to fraud.

via Page Six:

“You’re on the record, last November, as saying that you hoped she would get no jail time,” CNN’s Chris Wallace, 75, said to Cohen during a sit-down interview on Sunday.

“And the question I have is: Why would you take her side against the thousands of people she defrauded, including a lot of elderly [people]?”

Wincing as he listened to his own cringe-worthy take, Cohen, 54, tried to explain, “I think I was hoping that she was actually innocent,” but Wallace quickly fired back, “She pleaded guilty!”

“That was before she pleaded guilty, I mean, that I said that, I would think?” an uncomfortable Cohen responded.

“No,” Wallace replied, “I think it was after.” Shah changed her plea in July 2022.

“Oh, really?” Cohen said, completely shuddering in embarrassment. “Oh, God. Um, anyway! Wow, this is fun.”Though the reality TV exec claimed he didn’t remember the exact “context” surrounding his comment, he recalled viewers “demanding” to know Shah’s “status” on the show.

“And I’m like, ‘It’s up to the judge. She’s about to get sentenced to a lot of jail time,’” he told the “Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace?” host, who reminded his guest that Shah “did something bad.”

“Yes, she did,” Cohen said in agreement. “And so, she should go to jail.”

“You know, sometimes, if you get to know someone and you get to like them, you hope that they are not guilty of something horrible,” he added.

The quote in question was uttered during a November 2022 interview with Us Weekly, in which Cohen responded to whether Shah would be back for Season 4 of “RHOSLC.”

“She’s being sentenced on December 15, so I don’t know what to say to people who want her on the show,” he said at the time, though her sentencing was later postponed until after the holidays.

“I hope that she gets no jail time whatsoever and she can come right back … but I have a feeling that she’s not going to be available to be on the show.”

Shah, 49, did not attend the Season 3 reunion, which filmed last month. She was also absent from BravoCon, which took place in October 2022.

When a convention attendee asked Cohen why that was, he answered carefully — and cryptically.

“Once we wrapped [Season 3 and] she pled guilty, I think that was kind of, unfortunately, the end of, you know, the engagement there,” he replied at the time.

“But I hope to sit down with her and talk to her at some point on camera because I have a lot of questions for her.”

Earlier this month, Shah was sentenced to six-and-a-half years in federal prison.

Hours later, the mother of two — who was facing a maximum of 14 years behind bars — was seen celebrating with a group of 20 at an Italian hotspot in New York City.

It’s doesn’t matter now — because Jen Shah is going to jail!

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