Bravo’s legal department has another busy day ahead of them. The network just got slapped with another lawsuit. This time, it’s Vanderpump Rules alum Faith Stowers, and she’s suing the network over racial discrimination.
Radar Online reported the details of the lawsuit, which comes several years after Faith said that Stassi Schroeder and Kristen Doute called the police to wrongfully accuse her of committing a crime. Although Stassi and Kristen were fired in the aftermath, Faith thinks that NBC turned a blind eye to racist behavior.
Faith vs Bravo
In the court documents, Faith described a horrific experience working on Pump Rules where she was subjected to “racism, sexual harassment, and physical assault.” She claimed that Lisa Vanderpump specifically sought her out to “add color” to the cast. She got paid $5,000 for her first season, but it turned out to be much more than she bargained for.
The lawsuit read, “This case concerns Faith Stowers, a former cast member on Bravo’s popular reality TV show Vanderpump Rules, who appeared on 51 episodes as the show’s only Black cast member before being driven out by a vicious campaign of racist harassment and retaliation.”
According to Faith, she tried to talk to production about how she was being treated. They encouraged her to keep quiet. Shortly after raising the complaint, she said was demoted to an unpaid role on the show. She went from making $5,000 in her first season to making nothing. In the court documents, her lawyers said things went even further downhill from there.
“Over time, her treatment got even worse. Many cast members embarked on an overtly racist social media harassment campaign, accusing her of having gone AWOL from the military [false], of being a thief [false], and being a career criminal wanted by the LAPD [false],” the lawsuit read.
The suit continued, “NBC [ and producers], which tightly control the cast’s public statements and messaging, condoned, ratified and amplified these vicious lies, causing untold harm to Stower’s mental health and reputation. To make matters worse, NBC threatened her with ruinous legal action when she attempted to speak out.”
Bringing Kristen back to TV sent a message
Although Bravo eventually fired Stassi and Kristen, Faith said that they were just trying to appease the cultural climate at the time. This all came to the surface around the same time as the 2020 George Floyd murder. Faith said that had they truly been concerned about racism, the firings would have come much sooner.
After Stassi and Kristen got fired, Faith said that she never heard anything from Bravo. She didn’t get a phone call or even a nicely worded email. In the lawsuit, Faith and her lawyers noted how Bravo rehired Kristen for The Valley just a few years later. That added insult to injury.
The lawsuit said, “Now that the racial reckoning of 2020 has receded, NBC and [show producers] have reverted to their old ways. A Vanderpump Rules spin-off entitled The Valley debuted in March 2024, starting [sic] a who’s who of the 2020 chopping block.”
Faith is seeking damages for the alleged mistreatment she experienced, but the lawsuit didn’t reveal exactly how much she’s trying to get. However, this is just the latest lawsuit amid a whirlwind of legal trouble for Bravo. Former Real Housewives of New York City star Leah McSweeney got the ball rolling with her own discrimination lawsuit. Is this the reality reckoning Bethenny Frankel warned us about?
TELL US – WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON FAITH’S LAWSUIT AGAINST BRAVO? DO YOU THINK FAITH WOULD HAVE FILED THIS LAWSUIT IF KRISTEN HADN’T BEEN CAST ON THE VALLEY?
