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Housewives Legal Drama! 'RHOA' Star NeNe Leakes Files Lawsuit Against Bravo Exec Andy Cohen For 'Encouraging' Racist Work Environment
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Apr. 20 2022, Published 9:02 p.m. ET
The Real Housewives of Atlanta alum NeNe Leakes sued Bravo for reportedly tolerating "if not encouraging" a racist work environment.
Leakes, who is a Black woman, filed the lawsuit on Wednesday, April 20, claiming she's spent years making complaints regarding comments made by then-costar Kim Zolciak-Biermann.
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"NBC, Bravo and True foster a corporate and workplace culture in which racially-insensitive and inappropriate behavior is tolerated – if not, encouraged," the court documents read.
The Bravolebrity — full name Linnethia Monique Leakes — alleged in the suit that Zolciak-Biermann — a white woman — made repeated racist jabs at her throughout her seven seasons on the show that "perpetuated an offensive stereotype about African-Americans."
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Among the examples provided in the court filing was a moment in season one when she made a comment with "words to the effect of: 'I don't want to sit around with NeNe and eat chicken,'" after being invited to a cook out.
She also alleged that her former costar had used the N-word when referring to several of the other housewives during a time she was upset with them, and later noted the 43-year-old also implied Leakes was a drug-user and that her home was a "roach nest."
"From the day the series began filming, NeNe was the target of systemic racism from co-star Kim Zolciak-Biermann, which was tolerated by Bravo executive producer Andy Cohen and other executives," the reality star's lawyer David deRubertis said in a statement.
Meanwhile, her other attorney, Joe Habachy, explained that "not a day goes by that NeNe doesn't wake up with an onslaught of overwhelming emotions as a direct result of these unfortunate and avoidable occurrences" in an email regarding the lawsuit.
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Despite repeatedly going to the network to address her costar's alleged offensive and unacceptable conduct, Leakes' lawsuit — which targets NBCUniversal, Bravo, Truly Original, True Entertainment, as well as producer Andy Cohen — claims that Bravo "did not terminate their relationship with Zolciak-Biermann, nor take any other meaningful action to put an end to her racially-offensive behavior."
Zolciak-Biermann is not currently named in the suit.