Kathy Hilton Confuses Lizzo for ‘Precious’ Star Gabourey Sidibe in Painful ‘WWHL’ Clip

Kathy Hilton is getting slammed on social media after a cringey clip from her appearance on last night’s episode of Watch What Happens Live went viral for all the wrong reasons. Hilton, a cast member on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, stopped by the Andy Cohen late night show Wednesday (Aug. 11), where the host challenged her to identify celebrities using only their photo.

It was all fun and games until the bit turned sour once Lizzo‘s face popped up on the screen. With entirely unearned confidence, Hilton guessed that the pop superstar was Gabourey Sidibe. Well, she tried to — Hilton didn’t even seem to know Sidibe’s name, and just guessed the name of the 2009 film she starred in, instead.

When Cohen asked if Hilton recognized Lizzo, she replied, “I feel like I do. Precious?” He immediately shut her down, exclaiming, “No!” while a seemingly unfazed Hilton only said, “I don’t know her.”

Crystal Kung Minkoff, Hilton’s RHOBH co-star who was also on WWHL last night, attempted to smooth over the awkwardness, chiming in, “She is precious, though. Lizzo is precious.”

Hilton latched on, adding, “That’s what I call her. Her nickname is ‘Precious’ to me,” but Twitter wasn’t buying it.

After the moment aired, viewers piled on Hilton, accusing her of racism for confusing the two women.

“Nene Leakes was right about Andy cohen and the franchise being racist,” one user tweeted, referring to comments Leakes — a former star of The Real Housewives of Atlanta — made about her experience with the show, which she detailed in a lawsuit in April.

Another wrote, “as much Kathy Hilton can be completely ditzy and blonde, this was completely disrespectful and has some racial undertones.”

“Me thinks that @KathyHilton lives in a bubble or under a rock. How can you not know @lizzo ? Also, this isn’t funny at all, just cringe…,” one tweeted, while another blasted Hilton as “a fumbling racist who doesn’t realize that she is.”

Despite the widespread backlash against Hilton, some viewers came to her defense, pointing to past instances of Hilton confusing people on RHOBH. 

“Kathy Hilton had no malicious intent she constantly mistakes people. She mistook Garcelle [Beauvais] for her sister Kyle [Richards] so y’all making a big deal out of nothing really,” one wrote.

Another added, “Kathy Hilton deadass thought Garcelle was her sister, Kyle. Garcelle is Black, and Kyle is white, and Kathy was still confused. So her calling Lizzo, ‘Precious’ didn’t surprise me. I don’t think Kathy meant any malice, I genuinely think she thought it was Precious.”

One viewer suggested Hilton has a “hearing problem” or a “learning disability,” writing, “I don’t think she is purposely cruel or dismissive but calling @lizzo Precious is going to require a personal apology.”

We’re all still waiting on that apology, but in the meantime, you can watch the full clip of Hilton’s horrifying WWHL moment above, if you can bear it.

Watch What Happens Live airs Sunday through Thursday at 10/9c on Bravo.