Andy Cohen and NBC negotiating with NeNe Leakes to pursue settling her lawsuit out of court
An Atlanta judge has granted both parties a 45-day extension to allow them to work out a deal.
NeNe Leakes has entered into negotiations with Andy Cohen and Bravo to possibly settle the discrimination lawsuit she filed against them out of court, Page Six is reporting.
Earlier, RadarOnline reported that Cohen and NBCUniversal (Bravo’s parent company) argued in new legal papers that, per the contractual agreement with Leakes, disputes are “subject to arbitration in New York.” Leakes and her attorney disagreed with that assessment.
According to Page Six, citing court documents, an Atlanta judge at the request of Cohen’s team has granted both parties a 45-day extension — until Aug.19 — to allow them to work out a deal “to avoid the time and expense of a motion to compel arbitration” through their attorneys.
The former star of “The Real Housewives of Atlanta” sued the companies behind the popular “Housewives” franchise for allegedly fostering a hostile and racist work environment. The lawsuit was filed in federal court in Atlanta in April. As previously reported on theGrio, the court documents state that the reality TV star complained to executives about the racist remarks from her former friend and “RHOA” castmate, Kim Zolciak-Biermann.
Leakes claimed in her lawsuit that only she suffered consequences for bringing attention to Zolciak-Biermann’s years of racial remarks on set. Leakes also alleges that executives sought to sideline her from talking about Black Lives Matter on the show by keeping her off early episodes in which the housewives would address BLM.
In the lawsuit, Leakes names as defendants NBCUniversal, Bravo, production companies True Entertainment and Truly Original, executives from the companies and “Housewives” executive producer Andy Cohen.” Zolciak-Biermann is not named in the lawsuit.
“NBC, Bravo and True foster a corporate and workplace culture in which racially-insensitive and inappropriate behavior is tolerated – if not, encouraged,” according to the report on theGrio, citing language in the suit.
According to the RadarOnline report, Leakes’ lawyer wrote in the lawsuit, “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 suit also argues that after complaining about Zolciak-Biermann’s racism, Leakes was prohibited from working on other projects while her co-stars, who remained mum about racially-offensive incidents, “were permitted the right to do other work,” per RadarOnline.
Leakes was a fan favorite and staple of “RHOA” from its launch in 2008 through 2020.
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