NeNe Leakes turned the Bravo world upside down when she filed a lawsuit against Bravo alleging racism. We all know NeNe is the most iconic of Housewives, not just on Real Housewives of Atlanta, but overall. But what she documented in her lawsuit accuses the network of ignoring her complaints about racist behavior on the part of her costars. And she specifically named former cast member and long-time frenemy, Kim Zolciak.
Now Kim is responding to NeNe’s claims. As reported by People, Kim appeared on an episode of Carlos King’s new show, The Nightcap With Carlos King. Carlos is very familiar with the cast of RHOA, as he produced the series for 4 seasons. The special episode, which featured the RHOA season 1 cast, was overshadowed by the fact that NeNe wasn’t there. And for good reason given her accusations against Kim.
Kim told Carlos of the claims, “[NeNe] knows what she’s saying is not true in regards to me. That’s ridiculous, and she knows it.” She then added, “I’ll deal with her when she’s done with them. You can’t say things that aren’t true and try to defame somebody.”
NeNe and Kim joined the show together in 2008, when RHOA made its debut. The two were thick as thieves thanks to a friendship that predated the show. But like a lot of relationships on reality shows, the friendship quickly unraveled. While they fought and made up many times, by the time Kim left after season 5, the two appeared to be friends. Said Kim at the season’s reunion, “There’s always this level of respect between NeNe and I no matter what’s gone on. We knew each other before this … and we make each other madder than anybody else.”
Things started to deteriorate again when Kim came back as a “friend of” on season 10. During one episode, Kim’s daughter filmed bugs in NeNe’s bathroom and posted it on social media. Kim then referred to NeNe’s house as a “roach nest.” Because of the incident, NeNe called her racist. Kim denied being racist and even claimed she hired an attorney to sue NeNe, which ended up being an empty threat.
But the two moved on once again. Kim even provided NeNe with support when husband Gregg Leakes was diagnosed with cancer in 2018. In 2020, NeNe announced she was leaving the show. She said in a statement, “I have made the very hard and difficult decision to not be a part of Real Housewives of Atlanta season 13. It wasn’t an easy decision for me. It was hard.” NeNe noted, “I’m just so happy that I can say that I was a part of a genre that opened up doors for Black ensemble reality shows to step up and be a part of what we all now love so much, reality TV.”
Things didn’t stay calm for long and shortly after her exit, NeNe made some unsavory accusations against Andy Cohen. She accused him of being a racist, using drugs and being manipulative. Clearly, NeNe had been holding in some animosity.
In April of this year, she made her feelings abundantly clear by suing Bravo, NBCUniversal, RHOA production companies True Entertainment and Truly Original, and Andy himself. According to the filing, the defendants fostered “a corporate and workplace culture in which racially-insensitive and inappropriate behavior is tolerated — if not, encouraged.”
Kim was not named as a defendant, but she was repeatedly used as an example of the racist behavior that NeNe was referring to. According to NeNe, Kim used remarks to the effect of not wanting to “sit around and eat chicken” with NeNe. She also referred to castmate Kandi Burruss’ new neighborhood as “ghetto.” Such remarks, the lawsuit argues, “perpetuated an offensive stereotype about African-Americans.” After NeNe complained to executives, she alleged that she was blackballed, while Kim was rewarded with her own spin-off.
NeNe is seeking an unspecified amount and so far, none of the defendants have commented on the lawsuit. And I’m guessing this marks the end of NeNe and Kim’s relationship. For real this time.
TELL US- WHAT DO YOU THINK KIM MEANS WHEN SHE SAYS SHE WILL DEAL WITH NENE? DO YOU THINK THEIR FRIENDSHIP IS FINALLY DONE?
[Photo Credit: Bravo]
