New episodes of HGTV’s hit home restoration show “Rehab Addict” were scheduled to air this week after host Nicole Curtis’ brief hiatus. On the same day of the show’s scheduled return, however, years-old leaked footage was published by RadarOnline showing Curtis mindlessly uttering a slur during a renovation.
Warner Bros. Discovery-owned HGTV promptly removed every episode of the show. Future episodes have been canceled.
‘I make no excuse for this.’
“HGTV was recently made aware of an offensive racial comment made during the filming of ‘Rehab Addict,'” the network said in a statement to Variety. “Not only is language like this hurtful and disappointing to our viewers, partners, and employees — it does not align with the values of HGTV. Accordingly, we have removed the series from all HGTV platforms.”
The show-killing viral video appears to show Curtis growing increasingly frustrated during a restoration job and muttering, “Oh fart n*****.”
Realizing immediately what she had just said on camera, Curtis turns to her crew with a look of panic, stating, “What the f**k is that that I just said?”
Curtis appears to ask someone off-screen to “kill that,” in reference to the video evidence — which clearly didn’t take place.
It’s clear that someone behind the scenes had it out for the historic-house-saving mother.
RadarOnline’s source, who indicated the footage was years-old, said, “You [Nicole] deserve everything you get. Treat us with dignity and respect, and quit making money off of our backs. … You are a trash human.”
The host of the now-erased nine-season series said in a lengthy Instagram post on Thursday, “I am sorry. I am filled with remorse and regret, just as much as I was one second after that word was said 4 years ago in 2022.”
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Photo by Paul Marotta/Getty Images for Cost Plus World Marke
“I show this, I say this and I realize you are getting a limited view as what has been circulating is a clip of MY footage that was stolen then manipulated, edited and sold to [a] tabloid to coincide with my return to television only to create this chaos of hate, anger, disappointment,” Curtis continued. “I make no excuse for this. I am not [a] victim. Nothing I say or do will take that moment 4 years ago away. I know it was wrong. This will never happen again.”
The ex-host proceeded to suggest that she has been “submerged in the African American community” her entire life and that she has chosen “to live and work in the inner cities of many major cities,” where she apparently hears that word used routinely.
While there were plenty of people apparently happy to see Curtis’ life ruined over a poor choice of words several years ago, she also had many defenders — and at least one job offer — in the wake of her cancellation.
Curtis is hardly the first reality television star canceled over racially charged language.
For instance, the late Hulk Hogan was fired from World Wrestling Entertainment in 2015 over his liberal use of the word “n*****” on tapes recorded nearly a decade earlier. American chef and prolific cookbook author Paula Deen was systematically canceled and stigmatized in the wake of allegations of racial discrimination and the repeated use of a certain slur.
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