[ad_1]
NBCU/Getty
real housewives Kingpin Andy Cohen has faced a number of nasty accusations and accusations lately, but a cocaine- and alcoholism-fueled favoritism intimidation lawsuit filed today by Leah McSweeney has really raised his ire.
Late last night, after news of the New York action leaked, a rep for Cohen told Deadline that “the allegations against Andy are completely false!”
Never one to claim he is or was a saint, frequent TMI Cohen was also not particularly surprised by Tuesday’s presentation by RH and Ultimate girls trip Vet McSweeney against him, Bravo, NBCUniversal, production company Shed Media and various producers, I hear. After all, McSweeney had openly threatened last year to take the gang to court when his own employment discrimination action before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission was dismissed.
With that condition and with the Bravoverse under such scrutiny right now from a variety of lawsuits and attorneys, the defendants were probably hoping that McSweeney wouldn’t go crazy on them like she did.
the shaper real housewives of new york city The star actually fired a flamethrower in what she says was a clear effort to stop her from exercising her right to remain sober.
Alleging a “rotten workplace culture that relied solely on pressuring its employees to consume alcohol,” the lawsuit goes on to claim that RH franchise EP Cohen “engages in cocaine consumption with Housewives and other Bravolebrities he employs.” The filing also alleges that Cohen flatters the “Housewives with those who consume cocaine with more favorable deals and editions.”
Making it very personal for McSweeney herself, the lawsuit claims that “defendants knew that Ms. McSweeney struggled with alcohol use disorder, conspired with colleagues to pressure Ms. McSweeney to drink, retaliated against her when she wanted to remain sober and intentionally failed to provide reasonable accommodations that would assist in her efforts to remain sober and able to function.”
While unscripted shows have always drawn lawsuits as if they attract narcissists, Bethenny Frankel’s self-described “reality reckoning” war last year against the “seedy, dark underbelly of the widely consumed reality TV universe” NBC” really turned on the guns to fire at will. Taking aim at restrictive NDAs and the manipulation and mind games that allegedly take place on unscripted shows, Frankel’s lead attorney, Bryan Freedman, has put Bravo and NBCU on legal notice.
Even as NBCU promised stricter workplace conduct guidelines for its reality TV offerings, a series of sexual assault and harassment lawsuits have been filed in recent months. While NBCU isn’t the only media giant with such problems (just say the words Netflix and Love is blind around one or two courthouses, to see what I mean), are often in the spotlight.
In the last three months alone, the legal action has become more depressing than ever. Last October, Marco Vega, the butler from the second season of Peacock’s The Ultimate Real Housewives Girls’ Trip, filed a lawsuit alleging that he was sexually assaulted by cast members Brandi Glanville and Phaedra Parks. In December, HR student Caroline Manzo claimed a scholarship real housewives Star Glanville sexually assaulted her while filming in Morocco for Peacock. The Ultimate Real Housewives Girls’ Trip. Both Vega and Manzo’s lawsuits had Bravo, Forest Productions, Warner Bros., NBCU, Shed Media and Peacock as defendants.
Last week, Glanville’s attorney, Freedman and Mark Geragos, put NBCU, WBD and Shed Media in the hot seat with a letter alleging that Andy Cohen sexually harassed their client.
Citing the “abusive practices of the reality television industry,” lawyers said in a letter to executives that Cohen, apparently drunk, sent Glanville a video in 2022 telling her that he, an openly gay man, wanted her She also had sex with “another Bravo star that night,” also known as Kate Chastain. Called an “extraordinary abuse of power” by Glanville, the allegations soon caused Cohen to take to social media to say the whole thing was a prank in which Glanville was involved. On Twitter/X, Cohen acknowledged that he “was totally inappropriate and I apologize.”
That wasn’t enough for Glanville and his lawyers, who shortly thereafter, on February 23, called on Comcast CEO Brian Roberts to “do the right thing” and fire Cohen. Glanville herself says that she has not yet received a personal forgiveness from Cohen.
The clock is ticking.