NeNe Leakes slammed for ‘disgusting’ remarks during interview with trans star TS Madison
NeNe Leakes (R) suggested that she wouldn’t date a man who had been with a trans woman. (Getty)
NeNe Leakes (R) suggested that she wouldn't date a man who had been with a trans woman. (Getty)
The Real Housewives of Atlanta star NeNe Leakes has been widely condemned for comments about men dating trans women during an interview with trans RuPaul’s Drag Race judge, Ts Madison.
Last week, Ts Madison appeared on an episode of Leakes’ popular YouTube series The NeNe Leakes Show, with the pair discussing Madison’s trans identity.
During the chat, Leakes appeared to suggest that any man who would have sex with Madison, a trans woman, isn’t a straight man.
“I don’t date gay men,” Madison urged during the chat, to which Leakes responded: “You know, when you guys be saying that, that’s weird weird. Because what do you mean you don’t date gay men? Because if he sleeping with you, and sleeping with a woman, he something.”
“Well, he’s not gay. He’s definitely not gay,” Madison replied, before Leakes suggested he could be bisexual.
“If a man comes in here and he looks at me and you, well, he likes women,” Madison continued, attempting to explain to Leakes that transgender women are women.
“Yeah, because he doesn’t know,” Leakes replied, seemingly referring to Madison being transgender.
“And if he does know – he likes women,” Madison rebutted, before trying to reason with Leakes’ viewpoint. “He could be bi, or he could be pan. A lot of men are paying but they don’t say anything,” she said.
Leakes then declared she would never be with a man who had previously been with a trans woman, saying: “I don’t want to run into them. I don’t want to date them.”
She continued: “The man gonna be sleeping with me and you? I don’t want to talk to him no more. Why the hell you going to sleep with me then going to sleep with you? I don’t want him. I’m over it.”
Madison tried to explain that it’s very possible that Leakes had already dated someone who is also interested in trans women, or indeed men.
“Nene, if you’ve dated men, there’s a possibility that… he’s been with a man,” she pressed. “I know that women consider trans women men because we were born male. But there’s a difference between being men and male.”
Leakes went on to clarify that she would not want to be with a man who had slept with a trans woman as he would have lied about “what he likes”.
“Here’s the thing, you might demonise him for telling [you],” Madison added. “I won’t, I just probably won’t be with him,” Leakes responded.
Online, Madison has been praised for the “wildly gracious” way she navigated the tough conversation with the Real Housewives alum, yet internet users have been far less complimentary about Leakes and her stance.
“Nene has absolutely lost me after that interview,” wrote one viewer, who branded the conversation “disgusting”.
The disgust in Nene’s face when whatever is in her skull refuses to acknowledge the fact that some men like c!s AND trans women.
— ΛDRIΛN (@AdrianXpression) June 9, 2025
“I don’t wanna talk to men like that”
Ok but yall have already & will continue to. What’s the point of that statement when it’s an impossible one?
nene being this ignorant about queer topics while constantly existing in queer spaces is gross. pick up a mf book! https://t.co/qYyqLDRPjG
— a groovy virgo (@seeingxsydni) June 9, 2025
“My issue is it feels like her whole point was really just to insult Maddie’s personhood (in her own passive p*ss*ss way of course). So nasty and so rude,” wrote another.
A third commented: “It’s always been funny to me that Nene is considered a gay icon when she is so openly ignorant.”
RuPaul’s Drag Race alum Loosey LaDuca quipped: “Anyway Happy Monday to everyone but Nene Leaks [sic].”
On her Instagram page, Madison thanked Leakes for the “difficult conversation” and for “having fun” with her, but outlined her stance on Leakes’ views plainly.
“Here are some hard Facts…… let’s discuss,” she wrote, before highlighting that many women will have dated men who have experienced something they “may deem ‘gay’.”
“Trans women are desirable to men who identify as straight as well,” she continued.
“Men who identify as GAY do not date or desire trans women,” she added, before emphasising that sexual orientation and gender identity are different concepts.
Madison also shared a number of posts from fans who reiterated Madison’s point clearly: that men who sleep with transgender women are interested in women.
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