New York Housewife Eboni K. Williams has been blamed for the show’s recent dip in ratings, but the Bravo network has issued a statement defending show the show’s first Black cast member.
“Bravo invited Eboni K. Williams as the first Black woman to join the cast of The Real Housewives of New York to be her authentic self, which has brought a new perspective to the show,” the network told E! News in a statement. “We support Eboni in expressing her views, and we are proud that the show is addressing these important and relevant issues.”
Viewers have blasted Eboni’s “wokeness,” and constant conversations about race which have at times left her fellow cast members a little uncomfortable.
But Eboni says she will not stop.
“It makes me feel really good to know that the network has taken the affirmative step to vocalize that support,” Eboni told the publication.
“I can tell you internally it’s been there the whole time, but I think the network sees and I see the vitriol that’s out there from various spaces and I appreciate, deeply appreciate, them using the power of their platform and their voice to articulate that support in a way for viewers to kind of take some of that narrative that might have been out there around my attempt to hijack the show for personal agenda or some of the other crazy things I’ve heard and seen on social media, to just dispel all that, nip all of that in the bud.”
Being the first Black Housewife on the show was never going to be easy. But viewers appear to prefer Berhsan Shaw’s loud, slightly reckless vibes to Eboni’s “preaching.”
“I decided long ago when I was invited to join this cast and presented with this incredible opportunity to be a part of this legendary franchise, that I would only do it on the term of honoring my own authenticity, and my authenticity is I am a Black woman with significant consciousness of my space in this world and society,” add Eboni. “And in addition to me being very aware of that, this network was well aware of that.”
