Eboni K. Williams details ‘Real Housewives’ experience in exposé, trying to quit amid on-set racism
Williams, Bethenny Frankel, and more former Real Housewives open up about their journeys with the franchise in a new exposé in Vanity Fair.
Reality TV is getting a reevaluation. Eboni K. Williams, former Real Housewife of New York and host of “TheGrio with Eboni K. Williams,” joined other former Real Housewives in a new exposé published in Vanity Fair, breaking down the latest claims and allegations surrounding the workplace environment behind the popular reality franchise.
The piece, published on Tuesday, centers around Bethenny Frankel’s “reality reckoning.” The “RHONY” founding cast member has taken to social media and her various podcast ventures to speak out about her experience and the experience of others on reality TV, calling out the often-exploitative nature of the medium, various ways in which she believes the compensation is insufficient and paths forward for a safer environment when filming these shows. While the exposé interviews both her and Leah McSweeney of “RHONY,” the section with “TheGrio’s Eboni K. Williams” contains the most shocking revelations from her experience filming season 13 of the series.
Williams, the first Black woman to ever “hold an apple” on the series, recounts her experience on the reality show, specifically racially charged instances. One instance that left Williams and viewers stunned, was when her white castmates, specifically Luann de Lesseps, called her an “angry woman,” to which Williams naturally understood as her being called an “angry Black woman.” While the moment was shocking enough, the exposé details moments after the exchange that viewers didn’t see, in which housewife Ramona Singer (who has faced her fair share of controversy) said, “This is why we didn’t need Black people on the show…. This is gonna ruin our show.”
The exposé also detailed a later alleged incident in which Singer, who is white, told a Black staff there were “so many of you guys now,” referencing the other Black people working on the show, and another in which she allegedly used the n-word with a senior producer, Darian Edmondson. Williams and other crew members had allegedly complained enough about Singer that an internal investigation was launched into whether or not she said the show “didn’t need Black people,” which Williams was eventually told was found as “inconclusive.”
Williams also recalls a series of meetings she requested with NBCUniversal after she caught wind of the comments made, recalling being told by someone that while Singer did say the n-word, she didn’t “call” Edmondson the slur, downplaying the issue.
While she confirms the NBCUniversal chief diversity officer called out the issue on the call, she told the outlet, “What I recognized even in the midst of my own trauma is I still had the most power of any Black person involved in this thing. These are just young Black women trying to go to f–king work.”
Later, when asked whether or not she would want to participate in Frankel’s “reckoning” movement (over the last few months, Frankel has interviewed fellow estranged Real Housewife NeNe Leakes and infamous “Vanderpump Rules” star Raquel Leviss), Williams told the outlet, “F–k Bethenny Frankel. You think I’m going to let some white girl speak for me with my experience with a multibillion-dollar corporation?”
Check out the entire article in Vanity Fair, here.
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