CHECK OUT WeThePeople.store and WeThePeople.wine for gifts and awesome snarky swag!
A former “The Real Housewives of Atlanta” star who appeared on the show for multiple seasons without complaint has sued the companies and people behind the show, claiming that they’d “fostered and tolerated a hostile and racist work environment.”
But given how long former star NeNe Leakes, who’s black, had remained on the show without any public complaints, critics find her allegations to be extremely dubious.
…But why now. It wasn’t a problem when it was happening?
— Alisha (@alimil06) April 21, 2022
Leakes specifically alleges in a suit filed Wednesday that for years she’d complained to the show’s executives about “racist remarks from fellow housewife Kim Zolciak-Biermann, who is white,” according to the Associated Press.
As the cast of the show talked about possibly attending a barbeque during season one of the show in 2008, for instance, Zolciak-Biermann allegedly said something along the lines of “I don’t want to sit around with NeNe and eat chicken.”
Four years later, she allegedly made “racially offensive and stereotypical” remarks about the new home of a fellow housewife, calling the neighborhood a “ghetto” and asking whether the housewife, who’s black, really needed a swimming pool.
Also in 2012, Zolciak-Biermann allegedly used the N-word after a dispute with Leakes and a couple of housewives, allegedly suggested that Leakes in particular was a drug user and allegedly called her home a “roach nest.”
Critics, for their part, believe Leakes is making these allegations now because she needs money:
Ah someone needs money…
— Aponte (@rmorelli5_r) April 21, 2022
She must be broke.
— (@rebeldiva420) April 21, 2022
Thirsty & desperate attempt by this AF person
— REAL BLACKMAN (@BLACKMAN1971) April 21, 2022
She’s getting thirsty now the money train is gone. She waits until now?
— redgirlme (@Redgirlme) April 21, 2022
None of this was an issue when she was getting paid though??
— Marie Scholnkyn (@MRMister12345) April 21, 2022
Aka…Nene had no problem with any of it until the checks stopped.
— KMT (@counselforgood) April 21, 2022
She’s broke and washed up and that’s it pic.twitter.com/g56XCRZ08h
— GetOverIt (@Palmtreewishes) April 21, 2022
Her bank account looking as dry and thirsty as Kim’s Season 1 wigs pic.twitter.com/IzXIWPZq51
— Mark Sartoris (@tyrannosartoris) April 21, 2022
The suit further claims that after Leakes complained, the show’s executives “did not terminate their relationship with Zolciak-Biermann, nor take any other meaningful action to put an end to her racially-offensive behavior.”
If anything, the suit alleges, Zolciak-Biermann was rewarded with a spinoff show. According to Leakes’ attorney, this was because of “systemic racism.”
“From the day the series began filming, NeNe was the target of systemic racism from co-star Kim Zolciak-Biermann, which was tolerated by Bravo executive producer Andy Cohen and other executives,” Leakes’ lawyer David deRubertis reportedly said in a statement.
In an email to the AP, another attorney, Joe Habachy, added that “not a day goes by that NeNe doesn’t wake up with an onslaught of overwhelming emotions as a direct result of these unfortunate and avoidable occurrences.”
Not mentioned in the suit is that Leakes and Zolciak-Biermann were friends before the show and that Leakes had, in fact, recommended Zolciak-Biermann for the show:
I don’t think she’s going to win. Wasn’t it her idea to have Kim on the show in the first place? They were friends before the show. And wasn’t it Nene’s attitude that got her a non-invite back?
The lawsuit is a waste of time, IMO
— Bridget (@1MissBridget) April 21, 2022
The suit reportedly names networks NBCUniversal and Bravo, production companies True Entertainment and Truly Original, and several of the show’s executives, including executive producer Andy Cohen, as defendants.
“NBC, Bravo and True foster a corporate and workplace culture in which racially-insensitive and inappropriate behavior is tolerated – if not, encouraged,” the suit reads.
Meanwhile, Leakes either left the show or was ousted right before its 13th season began in 2020.
“The suit says Leakes’ negotiations for the season came as the Black Lives Matter movement was gaining major momentum, with Leakes a vocal supporter,” according to the AP.
“As the Black Lives Matter movement swept our nation, Mrs. Leakes — Bravo’s historically most successful Black female talent — should have been embraced by NBC, Bravo, and True. Instead, NBC, Bravo, and True forced her out of the ‘house she built,’ denying her a regular role,” the suit reportedly reads.
But critics say there’s a glaring problem with this narrative, namely that as recently as last year, Leakes had been expressing interest in returning to the show.
“Yeah, sure, I’ll return to the show. I’m OK with returning to the show as long as we can work through a few things. I’m happy to return to the show. Besides, I have a lot of unfinished business with a couple of them that they confirmed on the show,” she said during an appearance last November on “The Real.”
Listen:
Another problem is Leakes’ history of changing stories.
After the incident in 2020, she first suggested she’d been forced out.
Look:
They don’t think i deserve to work at all in any compactly
— NeNe Leakes (@NeNeLeakes) September 25, 2020
They definitely did
— NeNe Leakes (@NeNeLeakes) September 26, 2020
Yet in an interview weeks later, she said that she’d voluntarily left after feeling like she was being pushed out.
“I left because I was being pushed out. … If you are working at McDonald’s, working 40 hours a week, they drop you down to 20 hours, they drop you down to 15, they drop you down to 10, it’s obvious that they want you to quit,” she told Extra.
Also, according to the show’s fans, Zolciak-Biermann wasn’t the only one known for making inappropriate comments:
I know she’s not talking about Kim’s comments when she called Claudia a half breed! And said she wanted to come back a few months ago.
— Twirl, I Came From Jesus (@kat617919) April 21, 2022
See more criticism below:
Wasn’t she just on The Real saying she was willing to sit down with Andy Cohen, loved his son Ben, and was willing to return? Make it make sense!
— Just Dina (@Dina_the_Diva) April 21, 2022
Plus, the show highlighted Porsha’s activism within BLM so that argument doesn’t really hold up either.
— Dominic Stellino (@dominicstellino) April 21, 2022
- DOJ agrees not to publicly out FBI agents involved in Jan. 6 cases - February 8, 2025
- ICE arrests 11K illegal aliens in 18 days – NBC News says Trump ‘angry,’ wants more - February 8, 2025
- Judge blocks DOGE access to Treasury data after NY AG Letitia James leads blue states in lawsuit - February 8, 2025
Comment
We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.