Real Housewives of New York alum, Leah McSweeney, filed suit against Andy Cohen, Bravo, NBC Universal Media, Warner Bros. Discovery, Shed Media US and some show producers back in February. She accused the defendants of disability and sex discrimination and lack of a safe working environment. Leah, who’s battled with alcohol, alleged that she was pressured to consume drugs and alcohol while filming Season 12 of RHONY.
In her filing, Leah made other damning allegations, such as Andy partaking in cocaine with his favorite Real Housewives. In response, Andy denied the allegations and threatened Leah with legal action and punitive damages unless she retracted them and apologized. He also petitioned to have the case dismissed. Andy’s petition for dismissal happened back in May, but a judge still hasn’t made a ruling.
Last week, Andy’s legal team made another motion. This time, they requested that the court pauses evidence gathering until the judge decided whether or not to dismiss the case. Leah’s team just provided comment, and unsurprisingly, they strongly oppose Andy’s newest motion to pause the whole ordeal.
Leah McSweeney’s attorneys: “Ringmaster” Andy Cohen’s motion is “premature” and should be denied
Andy asked the court to pause proceedings and evidence gathering until they rule on his dismissal request in an August 8 letter. In it, he called a majority of Leah’s allegations “categorically false.” According to court documents obtained by PEOPLE, Leah filed in opposition on August 12.
Leah’s team argues that Andy’s motion is “premature.” They say this could lead Leah to “be prejudiced,” and that Andy has “failed to establish good cause.” The filing again emphasized Leah’s original allegations about an unsafe work environment due to the pressures to consume drugs and alcohol. She also expanded on her claims of sex discrimination, expressing that the “workplace culture is inextricably rooted in misogyny against all female talent.”
Further, she listed a religious discrimination accusation. She claims that Bravo and Andy “fail[ed] to accommodate [her] religious dietary requirements, but [they] accommodated non-Jewish cast-member’s requests for food without doing the same for [her].”
She also asserted that she believes that network “ringmaster” Andy’s earlier attempt to “obtain punitive damages against [her]” was “not only intended to dissuade [her] from pursuing her claims against [him] but also served as a public threat to any other Bravo cast member that deigned to speak out against the ringmaster himself.”
It doesn’t seem like Leah’s ready extinguish her metaphorical tiki torch any time soon!
The Real Housewives of New York streams on Peacock.
TELL US – WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON LEAH’S ALLEGATIONS? SHOULD A JUDGE RULE ON ANDY’S DISMISSAL REQUEST BEFORE CONTINUING TO EXPLORE MORE EVIDENCE?
