'So Nasty And So Rude!' Andy Cohen & Bravo Demand NeNe Leakes' Racism Lawsuit Be Moved Out Of Public Eye
Jun. 28 2022, Published 12:44 p.m. ET
NeNe Leakes has been fighting Andy Cohen and Bravo over their attempt to move her bombshell lawsuit accusing them of retaliation behind closed doors.
According to court documents obtained by Radar, NBCUniversal (who owns Bravo), Cohen, and the producers of Real Housewives of Atlanta have informed the court of the dispute.
As RadarOnline.com reported, earlier this year, Leakes filed suit claiming to have reported multiple incidents of racism or racist remarks by her costar Kim Zolciak-Biermann. Leakes said the network took no action against Zolciak-Biermann but instead retaliated against her.
In the new filing, NBC and Cohen explain they want the case moved to private arbitration in New York. If they are able to convince a judge that means the entire case will be kept hidden from the public.
The defendants claim Leakes’ contract has a provision that states all legal disputes will be handled in arbitration. Leakes and her lawyer have disagreed with that stance.
The parties agreed to push the next deadline by 45 days to allow them to work out a deal.
In the lawsuit, Leakes' lawyer wrote, “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,” Leakes.”
In October 2017, Leakes said it all hit the fan when Zolciak-Bierrman and her daughter publicly attacked her with a claiming her new home “was f----- roach nest.” She took to Instagram to speak out against her former costar but then was reportedly told by the network to delete her social media posts.
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Leakes starred on RHOA from its launch in 2008 through 2020. In court documents, she said after complaining about Zolciak-Biermann the producers and the network made her life hell for years — with low-ball offers and dirty games to make her look bad during production.
Further, the iconic reality star claimed she was “denied the right to do other work other than filming for RHOA when other housewives (who had not spoken out against racially- offensive treatment) were permitted the right to do other work.”
Leakes also said Cohen tried to “blacklist” and “sabotage her attempts to secure work beyond RHOA.” She accused the Bravo exec of interfering with a potential deal with Sirius XM Radio.
“Cohen has admitted that he told Sirius XM that Mrs. Leakes would demand a lot of money for any role on a radio show, an obvious effort to prevent her from getting such a deal,” she wrote.
Cohen has yet to publicly address the allegations. Zolciak-Biermann was asked about the allegations during a recent interview and said she would speak to Leakes privately about the matter.