Tag Archives: Expects

Sports

Los Angeles Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw calls long absence ‘frustrating,’ expects to start build-up for return

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SAN DIEGO — A fastball-only bullpen session on Tuesday was followed by an aggressive game of catch on Wednesday, which is expected to be followed by a more complete bullpen session on Friday. From there, Clayton Kershaw expects to begin his build-up in hopes of returning to the Los Angeles Dodgers’ starting rotation.

But he doesn’t know how long that will take or how stretched out he can ultimately get at this juncture in the season.

“Just as long as my elbow doesn’t hurt, we’re in a good spot,” Kershaw said on the field before Wednesday’s game against the Padres at Petco Park. “It’s been frustrating, it’s been a long time, it shouldn’t have taken this long. It’s frustrating on my part. But hopefully I can be around for the fun part and help us in September and October.”

Kershaw hasn’t pitched since July 3 because of inflammation around his left elbow. He admittedly tried to ramp back up too quickly, suffering lingering soreness after a three-inning simulated game a little more than three weeks later and once again shutting it down as a result.

Kershaw, 33, in the final year of his contract, said it’s too early to entertain the possibility of coming back as a reliever because he isn’t built up enough to take on a starter’s workload.

“I’m gonna do whatever is needed or wanted,” Kershaw said. “My focus is to get back to starting, but obviously whatever I can do, I’ll do.”

The Dodgers are currently operating with a four-man rotation that includes Max Scherzer, Walker Buehler, Julio Urias and David Price, the latter of whom had spent most of the season pitching out of the bullpen. Kershaw would ideally join that group and open games, even if he is only stretched out long enough to navigate through an opposing lineup once or twice.

Even without Kershaw — and largely without Mookie Betts — the Dodgers entered Wednesday’s game against the division-rival Padres with 14 wins over their past 16 games. They still trail the San Francisco Giants for first place in the National League West, but the Dodgers’ abundance of talent makes it clear that they will be a force once again in October.

Kershaw badly wants to take part.

Winning a championship last year hasn’t lessened that desire.

“Last year’s last year,” Kershaw said. “We wanna win this year. And especially with the team that we have — there’s not many times in your career that you can have this much talent on one team for a run. And who knows what it’s gonna look like next year and the year after that? You wanna take advantage of that. You wanna do whatever you can to be a part of it. Now, when it’s all set and done and you can look back, ‘Yeah, I won,’ and I can sink my head into that. But for now, I wanna win this year.”

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Business

‘Wolf of All Streets’ Trader Expects Bitcoin to Surpass $100K Within 6 to 12 Months – Markets and Prices Bitcoin News

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Crypto trader and investor Scott Melker, also known as “The Wolf of All Streets,” expects the price of bitcoin to hit new all-time highs by the end of the year. “I would not be surprised at all to see bitcoin trading in six figures within the next six to 12 months, or ethereum even pushing towards $10,000 in that time,” he said. The trader also sees the Senate’s $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill as the biggest advertisement in history for bitcoin.

‘Wolf of All Streets’ Trader Sees Many Upsides to Bitcoin Pushing the Price Toward $100K

Scott Melker, the host of “The Wolf Of All Streets” podcast, shared his bitcoin outlook with Kitco News last week. Melker is a trader and investor both privately and at Texas West Capital. He is the author of “The Wolf Den” newsletter and an advisor to a number of blockchain-based projects. In June last year, Binance awarded him the Influencer of the Year Award for North America.

Commenting on the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill that the Senate passed last week, he said it was the greatest advertisement in history for bitcoin. With so many intense discussions within the crypto community and a growing number of lawmakers speaking in favor of cryptocurrency, Melker said:

It’s raising awareness, which is probably actually causing more people to buy than to sell.

He continued: “We’re talking about printing over a trillion dollars out of thin air to pay for an infrastructure bill that has absolutely nothing to do with cryptocurrency. But the one cryptocurrency provision froze the bill for three or four days. And we had the entire world talking about bitcoin and the crypto industry. There’s some irony there.”

The host of The Wolf of All Streets podcast noted that the infrastructure bill still has to pass the House of Representatives and be signed into law. “That wouldn’t even happen until 2023. So we’re talking about a very long time horizon for any activity here.”

Another positive factor affecting the crypto market is the likelihood of a bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) being approved by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), he opined. “The approval of an ETF would be the biggest single event in the history of bitcoin for that large wall of money to have the confidence to enter — pension funds, endowments, sovereign wealth funds. They will come in when there’s an ETF.” The trader elaborated:

That would be the catalyst for real institutional adoption of bitcoin. A regulated asset that they can trust and that is vetted by their risk managers and by the SEC.

While noting that regulation in the crypto space is inevitable, Melker said the new SEC chairman, Gary Gensler, who previously taught crypto courses at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), will likely introduce sensible regulations that will benefit the crypto industry. Gensler recently told Senator Elizabeth Warren that additional authorities and resources are needed for the oversight of the crypto industry.

“Reasonable regulation that protects consumers is a good thing and would likely open the door to a lot of big institutional money that’s waiting on the sidelines for that sort of green light to enter the space,” said Melker.

Melker also discussed his price prediction for bitcoin and ether. At the time of writing, the price of bitcoin stands at $47,218 while the price of ether is $3,273 based on data from Bitcoin.com Markets.

“It’s a function of the price actually catching up to the value,” The Wolf of All Streets host explained. “We saw a major liquidation of leveraged traders, which caused the cascade of prices to go down much further than they should have.”

He elaborated: “When bitcoin dropped from $60,000 to $50,000, we saw almost $10 billion in liquidation. One million individual retail accounts were liquidated. And we saw similar activity from $40,000 to $30,000. I don’t think that that was the fair value of bitcoin. Now we’re seeing institutional interest coming back in and taking advantage of the dip prices.”

Predicting new record-high prices for bitcoin and ethereum by the end of the year, Melker described:

I believe that this correction is likely over and that we should see new all-time highs by the end of the year. I would not be surprised at all to see bitcoin trading in six figures within the next six to 12 months, or ethereum even pushing towards $10,000 in that time.

He added that in the long run, bitcoin will likely be a seven-figure asset and ethereum a $20,000 to $30,000 asset at a minimum.

In May, Melker said that investors could get into the crypto market by investing in the meme cryptocurrency dogecoin. Tesla CEO Elon Musk and the owner of the NBA team Dallas Mavericks, Mark Cuban, recently said that dogecoin is the “strongest” cryptocurrency when it comes to using it as a medium of exchange.

What do you think about Melker’s comments? Let us know in the comments section below.

Image Credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. It is not a direct offer or solicitation of an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation or endorsement of any products, services, or companies. Bitcoin.com does not provide investment, tax, legal, or accounting advice. Neither the company nor the author is responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in this article.



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Technology

Dr. Scott Gottlieb expects coronavirus to be an ‘endemic’ virus in U.S. after delta surge

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Dr. Scott Gottlieb told CNBC on Friday he expects the coronavirus to become an endemic virus in the U.S. and other Western countries after the recent surge in delta variant infections calms down.

“We’re transitioning from this being a pandemic to being more of an endemic virus, at least here in the United States and probably other Western markets,” Gottlieb said on “Squawk Box.” An endemic virus is one that remains in the American population at a relatively low frequency, like the seasonal flu, for example.

Gottlieb — commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration from 2017 to 2019 during the Trump administration, and now a board member at several companies including vaccine maker Pfizer — has previously said “true herd immunity” for Covid may actually be impossible with new infections occurring in the years ahead.

“It’s not a binary point in time, but I think after we get through this delta wave, this is going to become more of an endemic illness where you just see sort of a persistent infection through the winter … but not at the levels that we’re experiencing certainly right now, and it’s not necessarily dependent upon the booster shots,” Gottlieb added Friday.

Gottlieb said he expects the spread of the highly transmissible delta variant to remain noteworthy in the weeks ahead.

“You’re going to see the delta wave course through probably between late September through October,” Gottlieb said. “Hopefully we’ll be on the other side of it or coming on the other side of it sometime in November, and we won’t see a big surge of infection after this on the other side of this delta wave.” 

The tri-state region of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut will begin to see an uptick in delta cases as rates slow down in the South, Gottlieb said. 

“This is a big country and the delta wave is going to sweep across the country in a regionalized fashion,” he said. “By September, hopefully you’ll see the other side of that curve in the South very clearly, but cases will be picking up in the Northeast, the Great Lakes region, maybe the Pacific Northwest. …  It’s probably going to coincide with a restart in school, some businesses returning if you look at last summer as well.”

Gottlieb’s comments Friday morning came before a key Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s vaccine advisory committee unanimously voted to recommend Covid vaccine booster shots for people with weakened immune systems. If the CDC follows that recommendation, the shots can officially be administered to those vulnerable individuals such as organ transplant recipients, as well as cancer and HIV patients.

A day earlier, the FDA approved booster shots for people who have weakened immune systems. They represent about 2.7% of the U.S. adult population but make up about 44% of hospitalized Covid breakthrough cases in fully vaccinated individuals, according to recent data from the CDC. 

Gottlieb said being able to deliver booster shots to those Americans, helping fortify their immunity protection, will drive the U.S. further into the “endemic phase.”

“I think that this is a policy call as much as a public health call that U.S. officials want to continue trying to promote first vaccinations before they pivot to giving people booster shots,” Gottlieb said about the FDA’s Thursday announcement. 

Among those people Gottlieb believes should receive Covid booster shots soon are nursing home residents, who tend to be older and have underlying conditions that make them more vulnerable to Covid. That’s particularly worrisome as the delta variant moves into Northern states, and their initial round of vaccinations moves further in the rearview mirror, he said.

“I would be worried about nursing homes right now, the infection getting into those settings against the backdrop where you have a patient population that probably has declining immunity and is more vulnerable than they were certainly five months ago.”

Disclosure: Scott Gottlieb is a CNBC contributor and is a member of the boards of Pfizer, genetic testing start-up Tempus, health-care tech company Aetion and biotech company Illumina. He also serves as co-chair of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings’ and Royal Caribbean’s “Healthy Sail Panel.”

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Business

Spirit Airlines expects flight cancellations to continue

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Roughly half of Spirit Airlines flights were canceled on Thursday — and will be again on Friday for a fifth straight day — as the airline continues to cancel hundreds of flights throughout the week due to “operational challenges” and staffing issues that have thrown the budget airline out of sync.

The airline canceled 446 flights, or 56 percent of its flights on Thursday, according to FlightAware.  

Spirit Airlines President and CEO Ted Christie said the cancelations come as the airline tries to reset itself after widespread “disruption,” he said in an interview with ABC News.

 “When we reach this level of disruption, being able to recover does require a lot of resources, we’re not built to deal with this level of disruption and I think there’s some learning in there about how we might create variability in staffing so that we can deal with it,” he told ABC News.

Spirit Airlines canceled more than half its schedule on Aug. 5, 2021.
AP Photo/Eugene Garcia

“When we started canceling our crews got dislocated throughout the system. They were in the wrong places at the wrong time. And we needed to start to build that puzzle back together again. And unfortunately that takes our group a lot of time to do. So we started canceling deeper and deeper into the operation to give them that time,” Christie continued.

“The good news is that’s now finally starting to bear some fruit. We are starting to turn the tide here and get our operation moving again, there will still be cancellations over the next few days, but we can start to build back to the full operation, and then build from the takeaways that we get from this last week.”

Spirit Airlines is expected to cancel its flights for the fifth straight day.
Brandon Bell/Getty Images

Airlines have struggled to maintain staffing levels after COVID-19 decimated profits —even though airlines received federal funding contingent on them avoiding layoffs.

American Airlines appeared to be back on track after also struggling with staffing and other delay issues earlier this week, only canceling 1 percent of its flights on Thursday, according to FlightAware.

Frustrated Spirit Airlines passengers at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey on Aug. 3, 2021.
Paul Martinka



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Business

Fed expects rate hikes can hold off until at least next year

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One of these risks could be a spike in inflation.

Fed officials expect inflation to hit 2.4% this year, above their December estimate of 1.8% and slightly ahead of the central bank’s target of around 2%.

The Fed also noted public health indicators, labor market conditions and financial market developments as potential risks in its statement.

The central bank left interest rates unchanged in the range of zero to 0.25%.

Stocks briefly jumped following the statement.

Investors are worried that the full reopening of the economy will lead to a spike in consumer price inflation, which in turn will force the Fed’s hand in raising interest rates sooner than hoped. Treasury bond yields have been rising against the backdrop of this thesis, climbing to a 13-month high of 1.67% Wednesday.

According to the Fed’s consensus forecast — known as dot plot — the central bank doesn’t expect any rate hikes in 2021, but four Fed officials project higher interest rates in 2022.

But while inflation might be the bogeyman haunting Wall Street these days, higher consumer prices would come on the heels of a strengthening economy. Fed officials projected US gross domestic product, the broadest assessment of economy activity, to climb 6.5% this year, more than the 4.2% projected in December. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate is expected to fall to 4.5% by year-end, compared with the previous forecast of 5%. As of February, the nation’s jobless rate stood at 6.2%.

This is a developing story. It will be updated

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World

Former president Fox expects Mexico to pass landmark cannabis bill next week

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By Diego Oré

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Former Mexican President Vicente Fox said on Friday he expected Congress to pass its new law to legalize cannabis next week, a move that would effectively create one of the world’s largest weed markets.

The bill, backed by the administration of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, would mark a major shift in a country bedeviled for years by violence between feuding drug cartels.

Fox, a director at Colombian-Canadian Khiron Life Sciences which focuses on cannabis for medical use, has been a long-standing advocate for the decriminalization of marijuana in Mexico.

“We’re receiving direct information from the lawmakers,” he told Reuters. “It’s information that is quite trustworthy and solid, and next week this should be approved.”

A source in the lower house told Reuters the bill would be discussed on Monday. It was due to be approved in December but was delayed.

The bill, which easily passed the Senate in a vote in November, would create a huge new legal market for marijuana which companies like Khiron Life Sciences are eager to tap.

Canada’s Canopy Growth and The Green Organic Dutchman as well as Medical Marijuana from California are among other firms eyeing Mexico.

Grand View Research said in a recent study the global legal market for the plant could be worth $73.6 billion by 2027.

Lopez Obrador has argued that decriminalizing cannabis and other narcotics could help combat Mexico’s powerful drug cartels.

Fox said he wants to create a marijuana greenhouse and a laboratory where the plant will be studied at his Fox Center in Mexico.

“I’m convinced legalization of marijuana is the first step towards the legalization of all prohibited products,” he said.

(Writing by Diego Ore; Editing by Sonya Hepinstall)

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Business

Sutter Health expects more vaccine shots after canceling appointments

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A major Northern California health provider that had to cancel 40,000 appointments for second shots of the COVID-19 vaccine will receive another batch of doses from the state next week to reduce the shortage, a spokesperson said Thursday.

The announcement came a day after tens of thousands of Sutter Health patients were crushed to learn their final shot would have to wait.

Angeline Sheets, director of media relations for Sutter Health, said the state has committed to send the provider 30,000 doses next week and promised another 30,000 doses the following week. In the meantime, some counties and public health providers have shared their doses with Sutter to enable patients to receive their second shots.

Though Sutter still needs more doses for 90,000 scheduled second-dose appointments, “it’s a step in the right direction,” Sheets said in a telephone interview.

Sutter patients who went online to check the status of their scheduled appointments said they discovered the cancellations on Wednesday. Some tried furiously and futilely to find another provider.

The patients affected live in 22 counties, including the Bay Area. Sutter Health, a not-for-profit health system headquartered in Sacramento, operates about 24 acute care hospitals and more than 200 clinics in Northern California. The provider serves more than 3 million Californians.

Sutter said Wednesday it might have to scrap another 50,000 appointments for patients scheduled to receive second shots, after announcing the 40,000 cancelations.

“The state was very clear in directing us that we must NOT hold any doses back for second doses, and we followed those instructions as we quickly stood up mass vaccination sites and got first dose shots in arms,” Sutter spokeswoman Amy Thoma Tan said in an email.

“We had been reassured for weeks that if we administered the first dose, the state would guarantee that we would receive the second dose allocation, and we haven’t so far.”

Sheets said that all appointments for first doses through March 9 also had to be canceled.

“As a result of continued allocation issues, we are in the process of notifying patients with second dose appointments scheduled through March 9 to let them know that their current appointment needs to be canceled due to insufficient supply,” she said.

Patients will be called in seven to 10 days to reschedule,” Sheets said.

Patricia Henle, 66, a lawyer who lives in Marin County, said she learned after going online Wednesday that appointments for the second shot of the Pfizer vaccine had been canceled for her and her husband, who is 74 and suffers from cancer and diabetes. They were scheduled to receive their second doses in Sacramento on Saturday.

She said the couple received no email from Sutter, and she called the Sutter vaccine site in Sacramento to confirm that their appointments were canceled. She said she was told that it could take several weeks to get the second shot from Sutter and that she should check with other providers.

She then spent six hours calling pharmacies and medical groups to no avail. One only had the Moderna vaccine. Two providers told her she could schedule only appointments for first doses of the Pfizer vaccine, she said.

“If I had told them it was going to be my first shot, they would have taken me, but I didn’t want to lie,” she said. “I am an attorney.” She said both the first and second doses of Pfizer are the same, and she could have received the second dose if she had not told the truth.

“It is mind boggling that I have to this,” Henle said. “I am trying my very, very best to do it honorably and honestly, and I feel like a fool for doing that if you want to know the truth.”

Sutter said it has received more than 350,000 doses of both the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines from state and county allocations. During the last three to four weeks, the doses from the state were either insufficient or didn’t arrive at all, according to Sutter.

“We have been urgently requesting from the state additional allocations, and we have been doing that by email and phone,” Sheets said. “We have been incredibly clear about our need.”

She said Alameda, Santa Cruz, San Francisco and Sacramento county providers were among those that agreed to provide Sutter with doses. “I want to say how grateful we are for their willingness to share their supply,” Sheets said.

She said the shortage evolved before Blue Shield of California assumed control of the state’s vaccine distribution. The giant insurer has a contract with the state to create an algorithm for vaccine distribution, focusing both on speed of delivery and equity.

President Biden has said the U.S. will have enough vaccines for every adult by the end of May.

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Health

North Carolina expects to get 200K+ first doses of vaccine per week :: WRAL.com

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By Joe Fisher, WRAL reporter

Raleigh, N.C. — More people in North Carolina are getting COVID-19 vaccines as the state continues to greenlight more providers to meet an increase in demand. In addition, the state is seeing a big uptick in doses shipped here.

Some figures from the state’s vaccine allocation report:

  • North Carolina is seeing a 23% increase in new first doses allocated from the federal government.
  • New data from the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services shows 2.3 million doses of the Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines have been administered through the state’s enrolled providers.

Coronavirus vaccinations in NC

  • Last week, the state received 162,875 new first doses.
  • Wake County has jumped from 11 to 27 providers of the vaccine.
  • Durham County has gone from 6 to 11 providers of the vaccine.
  • For the next three weeks (the weeks of February 22, March 3, March 10), the state is expecting to receive 200,120 new first doses from the federal government.

Many counties have seen big turnouts at vaccine clinics held at schools and event centers. Earlier this month, a drive-thru COVID-19 vaccine clinic at West Johnston High School reached capacity just 10 minutes after it opened.

Because of inclement weather last week, many providers will be receiving the allocations from last week in addition to their allocation for this week between February 22 and February 24.

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US

Puerto Rico governor expects movement on statehood

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Puerto Rico Gov. Pedro Pierluisi told “Axios on HBO” that “Congress is morally obligated to respond” to the island’s recent vote in support of statehood, and said he expects a bill to be introduced in the House by mid-March.

Why it matters: Although statehood has been discussed for years, advocates say it is more likely now because Democrats control the House, Senate and White House — and because President Biden has publicly supported it.

  • Pierluisi campaigned on statehood for Puerto Rico along with other issues, like getting the coronavirus pandemic under control and lifting the U.S. territory out of its financial crisis.

What he’s saying: While the vote for statehood was a narrow one (52% support to 47% against), the governor told “Axios on HBO” it’s the best way for Puerto Ricans to receive equal treatment as Americans citizens.

  • “We need a game changer in Puerto Rico. And one game changer would be that we get equal treatment in key federal programs,” Pierluisi said, citing programs like Medicaid and the Earned Income Tax Credit, which aren’t available to those living in the U.S. territory.
  • People who live in Puerto Rico don’t have representatives in Congress with full voting power, and they cannot vote for the U.S. president.
  • “Statehood is not a panacea,” Pierluisi said. “Of course we have to do better. But there’s no question that having two senators and four representatives in Congress batting for us when needed would make a difference.”

Reality check: Congress isn’t obligated to take up the issue of statehood for Puerto Rico.

  • And former President Trump’s charges of corruption in its leadership further highlighted Puerto Rico’s history of managing federal aid, particularly after Hurricane Maria, several earthquakes, and a historic bankruptcy.
  • While Pierluisi said Trump’s worries about Puerto Rico’s corruption were overblown, his pitch for why the U.S. should take this up is simple: “The U.S. could be expanding by admitting Puerto Rico into the union. It would be telling the world that it is embracing diversity because this would be a truly, completely Hispanic state.”

The other side: Those against statehood instead advocate for independence or self-determination, as proposed last year in a bill by Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Nina Velazquez, both Democratic Puerto Rican representatives of New York.

  • And some Republicans argue that they believe all of Puerto Rico’s representatives in Congress would be Democrats if they’re admitted as the 51st state.
  • Pierluisi says he believes Puerto Rico would be a swing state with a “mixed” congressional delegation, though it “would probably lean Democratic.”
  • At the same time that advocates for Puerto Rico’s statehood believe now is their best chance to achieve it, many are also pushing for D.C. to become a state with full and equal representation in Congress.
  • “I don’t want to compete with D.C. I’m all for D.C. statehood,” Pierluisi said. “So I just want the star [on the American flag]. I don’t care about the number. So long as it happens and it happens soon, I’ll be more than pleased.”

Go deeper … Puerto Rico statehood: What you need to know

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Entertainment

Kelly Dodd Expects To Be Fired From ‘RHOC,’ According To Source

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Kelly Dodd of The Real Housewives of Orange County had been fascinating to watch on the show as she ticked off her co-stars. However, fans didn’t expect to feel attacked by one of the stars of the Bravo series. That is how many felt when Dodd played down the pandemic and seemingly mocked COVID as families grieved the loss of their loved ones at home. Almost a year later, Dodd’s future on the franchise could be in jeopardy and she’s bracing for the worse.

Kelly Dodd | Karolina Wojtasik/Bravo/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images

Times are changing

Although Dodd has always made controversial statements, none had produced the huge backlash her COVID-19 statements generated. Dodd was seen as the future of RHOC as Vicki Gunvalson and Tamra Judge exited the reality series after more than 12 years. Season 16 didn’t have any of the OGs holding an orange anymore and it would’ve been Dodd’s chance to shine.

However, as the mysterious virus hit U.S. soil, uncertainty began to set it. Production for RHOC was halted soon after they began filming as everyone tried to grapple with coronavirus.

Dodd is a heavy social media user and is never afraid to speak her mind just like on the reality series. Replying to criticism for traveling while the country was on lockdown, she played down the seriousness of the virus and said COVID-19 was “God’s way of thinning the herd.”

When Dodd appeared on Watch What Happens Live, Dodd said she regretted making that statement as it was deemed insensitive by fans.

“Of course I regret saying that,” Dodd said of her “thinning the herd” comment. “It was a stupid thing for me to say, it was insensitive and I apologize if I hurt or offended anybody. That wasn’t really my intention… I got really freaked out about it. In hindsight, it was the stupidest thing I’ve ever said.”

RELATED: Kelly Dodd To Quit ‘RHOC’ if Braunwyn Windham-Burke Returns: ‘She’s Dangerous’

Kelly Dodd continues to be controversial

More recently, California lifted a statewide order and allowed restaurants to reopen for outdoor dining. Dodd, who leans conservative and has criticized the Democrat Governor Gavin Newsom, celebrated going out and documenting the gathering of her friends.

As Dodd broadcasted on Instagram Live, a man is heard saying no one in the restaurants had masks and they were all “super spreaders.” The entrepreneur echoed those words and cheered on being “super spreaders.” Keep in mind that in less than a year the U.S. death toll for people affected by the coronavirus horribly approached 500,000.

Soon after the video went viral, Positive Beverage announced they were cutting ties with Dodd. Although the latter claims she still owns 5% of the company, they stated they denounced Dodd over her “controversial views.”

“Our core values of wellness, community, diversity, and inclusion should be reflected by our brand and anyone associated with it,” Head of Brand, Zack Muchnick, said in a statement. “It has become clear over the past few months that Kelly’s controversial views and opinions have distracted from our primary objectives, so effective today, we are no longer affiliated with Kelly Dodd-Leventhal.”

Kelly Dodd | Arturo Holmes/WireImage

RELATED: Elizabeth Lyn Vargas Seemingly Confirms Return To ‘RHOC’ Season 16 Cast

Kelly Dodd expects to be fired

The consequences of Dodd’s words and her lack of sensitivity to Americans that are experiencing losses in their family, have made Dodd lose out on business opportunities. After Positive Beverage sent a message by firing her, many fans are expecting Bravo to follow suit. Now, a source close to Dodd is revealing that the reality TV personality is also expecting to be cut from RHOC.

“Although she would love to stay on the show, she has come to terms with it,” an insider told E! News. “She knows it’s coming.”

The source also said that Dodd feels the network is favoring other cast members like Braunwyn Windham-Burke. As of now, Bravo has not made any official announcements about the future of the franchise. However, Andy Cohen, who is an executive producer on the show, hinted that a reboot could be happening.



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