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NeNe Leakes, a former star of The Actual Housewives of Atlanta, sued the businesses behind the present on Wednesday, alleging they fostered and tolerated a hostile and racist work setting.
The lawsuit filed in federal courtroom in Atlanta says Leakes, who’s Black, complained to executives about years of racist remarks from fellow housewife Kim Zolciak-Biermann, who’s white, however that solely Leakes suffered penalties.
The swimsuit names as defendants NBCUniversal, Bravo, manufacturing firms True Leisure and Actually Authentic, executives from the businesses and Housewives govt producer Andy Cohen, however not Zolciak-Biermann.
“NBC, Bravo and True foster a company and office tradition through which racially insensitive and inappropriate behaviour is tolerated — if not inspired,” the swimsuit says.
Representatives for NBCUniversal declined remark.
Emails despatched to representatives for the opposite defendants and Zolciak-Biermann in search of remark weren’t instantly returned.
Co-star made ‘racially offensive and stereotypical’ feedback
Leakes, 54, a TV character and actor whose authorized identify is Linnethia Monique Leakes, spent seven seasons as one of many central stars of The Actual Housewives of Atlanta between 2008 and 2020.
The swimsuit alleges that in the course of the first season, which aired in 2008, the forged was planning to attend a barbecue, and Zolciak-Biermann responded to the thought with “phrases to the impact of: ‘I do not need to sit round with NeNe and eat rooster.”‘ The swimsuit says the assertion “perpetuated an offensive stereotype about African-Individuals.”
The swimsuit says in 2012, in the course of the fifth season, Zolciak-Biermann made “racially offensive and stereotypical” feedback concerning the new house of housewife Kandi Burruss, calling her neighbourhood a “ghetto” and perpetuating a racial stereotype in an offensive remark about whether or not Burruss wanted a swimming pool.
That very same yr, the swimsuit says, Zolciak-Biermann used the N-word to check with Leakes and different housewives after a dispute with them, the swimsuit alleges. It additionally alleges Zolciak-Biermann falsely implied that Leakes used medication and known as her house a “roach nest.”
The swimsuit says after Leakes’s complaints to the executives overseeing the present, they “didn’t terminate their relationship with Zolciak-Biermann, nor take every other significant motion to place an finish to her racially offensive behaviour,” and, if something, rewarded her by giving her a by-product present.
“From the day the collection started filming, NeNe was the goal of systemic racism from co-star Kim Zolciak-Biermann, which was tolerated by Bravo govt producer Andy Cohen and different executives,” Leakes’s lawyer David deRubertis mentioned in a press release.
Leakes says she was pressured off present for alleging racism
Joe Habachy, one other of Leakes’s attorneys, mentioned by way of e mail “not a day goes by that NeNe does not get up with an onslaught of overwhelming feelings as a direct results of these unlucky and avoidable occurrences.”
The lawsuit alleges that her complaints of racism led partly to Leakes being pressured off the present in 2020, earlier than its thirteenth season.
The swimsuit says Leakes’s negotiations for the season got here because the Black Lives Matter motion was gaining momentum, with Leakes a vocal supporter.
Executives sought to sideline Leakes from speaking concerning the trigger, conserving her off early episodes through which the housewives would deal with BLM, the swimsuit alleges.
“Because the Black Lives Matter motion swept our nation, Mrs. Leakes — Bravo’s traditionally most profitable Black feminine expertise — ought to have been embraced by NBC, Bravo and True,” the swimsuit says. “As an alternative, NBC, Bravo and True pressured her out of the ‘home she constructed,’ denying her an everyday function.”
The swimsuit alleges that the defendants’ actions violate federal employment and anti-discrimination regulation, and it seeks financial damages to be decided at trial.
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