The Real Housewives franchise has a revolving door of ladies. They come and go just like their husbands’ mistresses. Ahem. But when The Real Housewives of Atlanta’s NeNe Leakes announced she is quitting the show, sh*t got real. NeNe is the main star of RHOA—and the pillar of the show’s drama. Without her, there is no show. Bravo is scrambling to get NeNe back. And their efforts might be working!! Reports are coming in that NeNe might not be leaving RHOA after all. Producers have asked Queen Bee NeNe to come back to the show in a reduced role. And according to TMZ, she might agree!! Sources say that NeNe is acting like she is off the show for good. But Bravo producers are still working to have her make cameo appearances throughout the upcoming season. Initially, NeNe and Bravo couldn’t come to terms over her salary. So NeNe pulled the plug. RHOA made NeNe famous, but she has other gigs going on. Currently, she is committed to a primetime network sitcom. NeNe is rich b*tch, and she wants to stay that way. She said the only way she would juggle her new sitcom and RHOA is if Bravo upped the ante. Reports claimed that NeNe got a HUGE raise in an effort to keep her on the show. Apparently, it wasn’t enough to please the reality star. But she is willing to be a part-time housewife if the money is right. TMZ claims negotiations will begin soon. View Slideshow: 15 Fabulous NeNe Leakes Quotes
Is Bravo Helping Make Black Lives Matter? Kareem Abdul Jabbar Thinks So We don’t know about this one… Bravo has been dominating the reality television world and apparently even ex-NBA players have noticed. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar thinks that the network’s mostly African-American lineup are helping humanize the black lives matter movement . In a Time.com op-ed Abdul-Jabbar makes his case: A lot of people look at Bravo TV’s lineup of table-flipping, backstabbing, wig-wearing, felon-making reality shows as a clear sign of the cultural apocalypse. If people are actually watching these shows, they warn, End Times are clearly upon us. I think it’s the opposite. The unrelenting pettiness of most cast members stewed with raw chunks of desperation for fame at the cost of personal dignity may seem unappetizing at first. But the harsh truths about our society that simmer beneath the frothy surface provide a tasty and hearty diet of insight and inspiration. That’s why Bravo may be one of America’s best hopes for the elimination of racism. Really? Well Abdul-Jabbar goes on to spell out the differences between institutional and cultural racism and argues that Bravo is helping to dispel some of the mythology that propels cultural racism. Here’s more excerpts from his argument: Biases are based on fear, and fear is generally based on ignorance. We are afraid of what we don’t know. And if the information we receive about those we fear is deliberately biased, there’s no chance to defeat the bias. The way Americans overcome these cultural prejudices is to be exposed to real people of different cultures so that they can see what they all have in common. Not just the good stuff, like kindness and compassion, but the flaws and self-doubts and mistakes that all humans share. That’s where Bravo comes in. Its lineup of reality shows seems to feature more black people than any other channel except BET. I once called Andy Cohen, Bravo’s former head of development and the current producer of the Real Housewives franchise, the “Andy Warhol” of the new millennium. But his willingness to feature more blacks and members of the LGTBQ community in numerous reality shows also makes him an influential civil rights proponent. Married to Medicine follows a group of black women friends who are either doctors or married to doctors. What a relief it is to know that education and income don’t help them manage their personal conflicts any better than the rest of us. Thicker Than Water follows the Tankard family, whose wealthy patriarch, Ben Tankard, tries to impose strict religious behavior on his children that he didn’t follow in his own youth. Blood, Sweat & Heels reveals the petty feuds and deep friendships of a group of black professional women in New York City as they deal with ambition, cancer, death, and dating. The Real Housewives of Atlanta is a whirlwind of betrayal, from friends, relatives, and spouses. Add to that the aspiring musicians in The Kandi Factory and fashion snarkiness in Fashion Queens, and a large spectrum of non-inner city black culture is represented. Through these shows, the country sees black Americans as neither icons nor victims. Neither paragons nor charity cases. They’re just a bunch of warts-and-all people chasing the American Dream as hard and fast, and often as clueless, as most everyone else. So far-reaching and influential is media, that the next generation of white children raised with the cultural wallpaper of racism lining their homes will grow up seeing a broad spectrum of black lives. And those lives will now matter more. Hmmmm do you think he’s right? We were thinking something along the lines of “The Cosby Show” and/or “A Different World” probably did a lot more to help the cause than Bravo, but do you agree with his logic? Bravo/WENN
Note to haters: you really do not want to mess with a pregnant woman. Kim Kardashian is making that abundantly clear. A day after announcing she’s pregnant with her second child , Kardashian jumped on Twitter this afternoon to positively GO OFF on those who don’t believe she’s actually pregnant. Apparently they’ve bought the rumor that Kim and Kanye West would be using a surrogate … and they’re still buying it. “Can’t wait til my website is active!” Kim wrote. “I’m gonna do live video streaming so every time someone talks shit I can go blast the f*ck outta them.” Kim concluded her fun rant with: “Pregnant KiKi does not play!!!! *BLOOP!* Not only is Kim pregnant and hormonal, but she told reporters on the red carpet of the 2015 CFDA Fashion Awards last night that she feels like crap these days. “To be honest, I’ve had really bad morning sickness, day sickness, night sickness – I can barley get out of bed,” Kardashian confessed . Kardashian just completed her first trimester and is due some time in December. We send her and Kanye our very best and we hope to see more of fun, Pregnant Kiki blasting away at critics over the next six months. View Slideshow: 22 Photos of Kim Kardashian Actually Wearing Clothes
The ongoing saga of Kim Richards has taken her back to rehab. The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star was arrested in April at the Beverly Hills Hotel and charged with public intoxication, among other crimes, for locking herself in a bathroom and allegedly kicking a police officer. She then went on Dr. Phil and choked back tears, telling the host: “Living through a season on a show, sometimes it’s hard to just get through it. The fans are really hard on me.” Richards then checked into a rehab facility… only to leave in order to attend her daughter’s wedding in Mexico… at which she got wasted . In response to the reality star’s latest shenanigans, sister Kyle Richards has reportedly cut off contact with Kim in an attempt to use tough love as a means to force a wake up call. And perhaps it has finally worked. “She’s doing ok, a lot better than she had been,” an insider tells E! News of the Bravo cast member. Let’s hope this visit to rehab sticks and that Kim Richards soon finds her way to prosperity and health. View Slideshow: 19 Celebrities Who Have Been to Rehab
“I do eat,” Bethenny Frankel insisted. “There are nutritionists that comment that I don#39;t even weigh a hundred pounds — I weigh 115 pounds. I#39;ll be happy to get on the Today show scale!” There#39;s a reason Bethenny Frankel named her company Skinnygirl. The Real Housewives of New York City star, who returned to the Bravo reality series for the upcoming seventh season, is self-admittedly petite — but not as petite as her critics might have you believe. Appearing on the Today show on Mon
