Information concerning the lawsuit between the Bravo network and former housewife of The Real Housewives of Atlanta NeNe Leakes continues to be revealed, and now the star is alleging that Andy Cohen played a role in sabotaging her career. On April 20, Leakes sued NBC Universal, Bravo, True Entertainment and Truly Original as well as Andy Cohen and other executive producers from these companies for allegedly condoning a racist work environment. In the lawsuit, it was noted that Kim Zolciak-Biermann, who was also a RHOA housewife, allegedly exhibited racist behavior that existed for it, and though Leakes made complaints about it, Zolciak-Biermann never suffered consequences.
Leakes also accused the networks of decreasing her screen time on the show after she was a vocal supporter of the Black Lives Matter movement. The reality TV star believes that this action was discriminatory, and she also believes her constant complaints got her fired before RHOA season 13. When it was announced that Leakes would not be returning to the show, she first claimed that she was not able to negotiate a contract with the network, but a while after this, claims about alleged racism were raised about the producers and network connected to the show. Eventually, the star claimed that she was blacklisted by the network, which she felt damaged her career.
Leakes filed a complaint, which was obtained by Radar Online, which states that she believes Cohen's form of blacklisting went beyond networks connected to the real housewives. More specifically, Leakes was reportedly negotiating with Sirius XM to have her own radio show, but Cohen allegedly spoke to the executives without Leakes knowing. According to the lawsuit, "Cohen has admitted that he told Sirius XM that Mrs. Leakes would demand a lot of money for any role on a radio show," which Leakes believes was done to keep her from landing the deal. Leakes' lawyer spoke about the treatment she received from the network in the lawsuit, and the lawyer believes that she was offered fewer episodes and contracts were taking longer to be negotiated out of spite. "This was not typical, and it was retaliatory," said her lawyer.
The suit also alleged that Bravo and its producers stopped negotiating with Leakes about having her own spin-off show, despite showing interest in it before her complaints were made. At the very same time negotiations fell through for Leakes' show, the network approved Kandi Burruss' spin-off show Kandi & the Gang. To make sense of this disparity, the suit said that "Mrs. Burruss had not been vocal in calling out the racially-inappropriate behavior over the years to the degree that Mrs. Leakes had been." When the lawsuit from "The Linnethia Lounge" owner was first made public, an incident in which Burruss recalled Leakes allegedly using a racist slur against her had resurfaced. But according to Page Six, Burruss said she has no opinion about the lawsuit. "I don’t have anything to say about it. Never! Absolutely have no opinion."
Though the former housewife from The Real Housewives of Atlanta has not spoken about the issue on social media, her Twitter bio references the issue with her allegation that she was blacklisted. On the other hand, Cohen has not spoken about the lawsuit, but rather, he is using his social media platforms to promote BravoCon. Though the relationship between the two is strained, Leakes can still be seen as one of the housewives featured in Cohen's header photo on Twitter.
The Real Housewives of Atlanta season 14 premieres May 1 at 8 p.m. EDT on Bravo.
Sources: Radar Online, Page Six