I feel out of my depth covering the reality shows because I don’t watch Bravo and you always know so much more than I do. I know from our weekly Zoom meetings that a lot of you watch and love them though and I’m going to try to get up to speed and cover them more. The RHOBH spinoff, Vanderpump Rules, is incredibly white like a lot of the Bravo reality shows. It features the privileged a-holes who work at Lisa Vanderpump’s restaurant, Sur, in West Hollywood and has been on the air for eight seasons. Faith Stowers is a Black woman who was recurring on just one season, season 4, and was a guest on season 6. Two of the white lead cast on the show, Stassi Schroeder, Kristen Doute, called the cops on Faith, I guess as some kind of evil twisted “prank,” and tried to pin a series of robberies on her. Faith knows about it because Stassi and Kristen told the story on a podcast in 2018 like it was something they were proud of. This story is getting new traction because Faith recounted it last week in another interview. Both Stassi and Kristen have just apologized to Faith publicly, finally, but only Stassi’s apology is decent. Kristen is doing one of those “I’m not racist” apologies.
On Sunday, both Schroeder, 31, and Doute, 37, posted lengthy statements on Instagram to address an incident that Stowers recently spoke about during a recent Instagram Live chat with Floribama Shore star Candace Rice.
Last week, Stowers, who appeared on seasons 4 and 6 of the Bravo series, recalled a time when Schroeder and Doute spotted a tabloid article about a black woman wanted for theft, and called the police to pin the crimes on her.
“There was this article on Daily Mail where there was an African American lady. It was a weird photo, so she looked very light-skinned and had these different, weird tattoos. They showcased her, and I guess this woman was robbing people,” Stowers said during the June 2 conversation. “And they called the cops and said it was me. This is like, a true story. I heard this from actually Stassi during an interview.”
In 2018, Schroeder confirmed calling the cops about Stowers during an appearance on the Bitch Bible podcast. At the time, Doute tweeted a link to a news story about the woman at large at the time, writing, “hey tweeties, doesn’t this ex #pumprules thief look familiar? someone put her on mtv & gave her a platform for press. I didn’t wanna go there but I’m going there…”
Vanderpump Rules, which premiered in 2013, has come under fire from fans in the past for its predominantly white cast. Besides Stowers and Tina McDowelle, a recurring character in seasons 1 and 2, there have not been any black stars.
Regarding the tabloid article about a black woman wanted for theft, Stowers said during her Instagram Live chat that “it was just funny, because [Schroeder and Doute] thought it was me because it was a black woman with a weave,” later adding, “So they just assumed it would be me, and they called the cops on me. It didn’t work, so they were upset about that.”
So not only did these Karens use the cops like their own personal grudge squad (if you don’t want us to use Karen like that f*k you), Kristen tried to get all her followers to go after Faith too. These women are despicable and Kristen is even worse. Read her statement below, it includes the line “my actions were not racially driven.” She’s only apologizing now and she’s still insisting she’s not racist. She’s also using the passive voice instead of taking ownership, “something specifically that happened a few years ago with my former castmate.” No, you called the cops on her and she could have been killed. Bravo needs to have a zero tolerance policy with racism and fire at least Kristen if not Stassi. Oh and Jax Taylor targeted Faith too, tweeting that she was wanted by the cops when he’s the one who has spent several days in jail. Jax’s now-wife, Brittany Cartwright, also called Faith’s hair “nappy.” She was jealous because Jax cheated on her with Faith. Brittany denied saying that and defended herself by saying “she knows I don’t have a racist bone in my body.” THEY ALWAYS SAY THAT. Also see “I don’t see color.”
Update: Faith says that Stassi and Kristen have not reached out to her personally to apologize.
Here’s Stassi’s statement. She’s been dropped by her publicist and agency.
Here’s Kristen’s. Jax has posted some black boxes.
— kristen doute 🦒🤟🏽 (@kristendoute) June 7, 2020
Jax and Brittany:
Embed from Getty Images
Is literally ANYONE shocked by this?? Stassi has a LONG history of being problematic. I dont even watch the show. But I remember a few years back her saying some racist crap on her podcast.
Everyone that can, please reach out to their cancels to have them dropped
https://www.reddit.com/r/BravoRealHousewives/comments/gxc53k/more_sponsors_lisa_stassi_kristen/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf
They not only tried to have an innocent black woman arrested, they NEVER admitted she didn’t do the crime, so now when any google Faith (jobs, dates, etc) they terrible lies are the first thing that comes up. Imagine if this went the way of Emmett Till. This is so much worse than using racist words or bitching about all lives matter. At best they wanted to subject her to police interrogation, at worst they wanted her killed!
LVP and these two Karen’s are cancelled in my home!
What they did was evil. I am beyond shocked. They should have faced legal consequences for what they did.
I used to watch Vanderpump Rules as a guilty pleasure and even listened to some of Stassi’s podcasts and I am SHOCKED! They called the cops? Like WTF????
And why is Faith calling it ‘just funny’? WHY?
I am so confused!
I hate that program so much.
Such a bunch of petty, vapid assholes.
Racist, to boot. They all waste oxygen.
Yep, all you need is to watch about a half of an episode to see they’re all whiny a**holes.
I wish reality shows would disappear – there is nothing “real” about them. Where did these dimwits grow up? Crappy attitudes come from somewhere ya’ know?
I’m going to leave this here:
“The most disrespected person in America is the black woman. The most unprotected person in America is the black woman. The most neglected person in America is the black woman.” Malcolm X, 1962
True
Just to clarify- they did not apologize to Faith they made public apologies after losing representation and sponsors. So personally not buying these apologies.
Also this is not shocking and I know I’ll get flamed but I think this shows who LVP is as well, she’s said nothing about this. Asked Faith to bring more “color” and “drama” to the show and also defended to guys on the show who tweeted the n word saying they were young!
I updated with that because I saw it while doing the links Becky!
I’ve been TRAINING for this! I started watching this show like a few weeks ago – I’ve even drug my husband into watching it with me because it’s SUCH a trainwreck! We’re only on season 4, and only a few episodes into it, so there’s plenty I haven’t seen yet. I think Faith was JUST introduced in one of the last episodes I watched where Tom and Tom were helping her load one of their couches into a U-Haul.
We sit there losing it laughing because EVERYONE is so dumb, and they make such HORRIBLE decisions. But we especially loathe Kristen. She’s like… a whole different level of vindictive and evil. I don’t expect reality stars to be fantastic people – I expect people like these to say and do some pretty awful things. Jax has to be one of the dumbest people I’ve ever watched on television. They are the picture of privilege.
But even still, I’m surprised at this? Like, not surprised that they’d be horrible people – surprised that they’d stoop THIS low. Most of their terribleness is unleashed on each other – terrible people hurting other terrible people. But that’s not what this is. This was racist, trash behavior.
There were times where I was a bit of a Stassi apologist because other people were doing some pretty crap things to her as well. She was basically the devil in season one, and the next two seasons I would flip flop on the occasional issue and think “alright, that one isn’t HER fault” – but I can’t cut her slack after this mess. Her father is apparently a giant Trumper, and it seems like they genuinely raised her with the idea that she’d just find a rich husband to take care of her – and I felt a bit sorry for that. The thing is, at some point you need to take responsibility of your issues regardless of how you were raised, and she hasn’t seemed to ever attempt that. But – like I said – enough of that. This is inexcusable and completely indefensible.
I also don’t think for a second that Kristen is sorry. That apology was pretty clearly a PR driven one. The same could be said for Stassi, though it was a better apology just on face value. I think that a lot of this does boil down to privilege and the way that racism benefits white people. Of course she didn’t think of the ramifications – she’s never had to be afraid of the cops in her life. And that’s a HUGE problem.
With you Erinn! My coworker actually got me to watch it and it’s the only reality show I watch because it’s such a Trainwreck. They’re all awful, honestly. Raquel is fine but she’s boring, and so far I’m loving Charlie. Everyone else is a flaming dumpster fire
I know people love the Bravo shows but I can’t stomach them. It’s all fake story lines repeated over and over again and it paints women as petty and simple. Can we please move on from this garbage already?? It’s so boring…and white. Also, f*ck these two losers that called the cops on Faith. Big mad that a gorgeous black woman stole their spotlight. Racism is rooted in jealousy, particularly in this case.
Your opinion is yours, and I respect it, but I think racism is rooted in evil… and maybe a little fear and ignorance. Still, no excuse.
I have watched some of Vanderpump Rules and just what others see in this show is beyond me. But it follows the same formula as all their housewives programs: everyone gets more bizarre looking with each season due to more plastic surgery, heavier makeup and pitches for their various businesses. There are screaming matches and makeup scenes. The featured personalities come across as narcissistic idiots with personality disorders. They actually think they are IMPORTANT! Reading about Faith made me heartsick. Stassi is a mean girl, so is Kristin. Lisa V doesn’t need the money so I don’t know why she continues with this stupid series.
They all depend on the $ from the series and their endorsement deals. I buy nothing these people endorse or sell. There! It’s off my chest!
There is an excellent sub-reddit that has been posting Stassi and Kristen’s sponsors and endorsement deals and mass contacting them to end the relationships. Stassi for the most part seems to have lost almost all of her sponsorships. Kristen has the nerve to post a link to her overpriced crappy tshirt line and state that some of the proceeds from her sale would go to social justice and racial equality groups but didn’t specify an amount. It felt like a marketing ploy for her to sell more shirts.
Brittany and Jax are disgusting but they somehow seem to be getting away with it, no one seems to be organizing to eliminate their sponsors or anything.
Gross all around, poor faith.
Surely it’s much easier to say “What I did was racist. I publically apologise to Faith and will do so privately as well. I’m no longer that person.”
I will respect anyone who says “I was a racist, I did a horrible thing and I expect and accept any ramifications”.
I don’t watch this show but just wanted to say how gorgeous Faith is. I’ve never seen her before.
I never realised how gorgeous she was! She was in the show so fleetingly.
Is the Police going to investigate them for making false accusations and wasting police time?
These people are disgusting. Personally, I’m done with Bravo. The way that they portray women has always felt misogynistic to me, and mostly I allowed it because most of the people on these shows are objectively terrible people and deserve everything they get. But recently, Bravo has gotten it wrong again and again. For example, the last season of Below Deck (the original) was so toxic and awful that it was painful to watch – however, if at the reunion Andy actually had called out this behavior and used the platform to discuss the issue, then to me it would have “neutralized” the toxicity of the season by clearly standing against it. But of course that didn’t happen. That’s what’s missing in all of these Bravolebrity scandals – if you don’t call out the behavior, then there’s no satisfaction and the whole show just seems to affirm the very behavior they should be railing against.
Cut to this season of Vanderpump Rules. I think like 1 or 2 weeks into the season, social media erupted with the discovery that TWO of the new cast members had repeatedly tweeted abhorrently racist things (including consistent use of the N word) a few years back. Lisa Vanderpump brushed it aside saying “if I fired everyone for being problematic then I’d have nobody left” and like, that’s the point? I mean, either Bravo didn’t vet these guys at all (how hard is it to go back and read old tweets), or they did and didn’t care, and both options are awful. There’s a huge difference between casting someone vapid and ignorant and someone racist or homophobic, something Bravo seemingly refuses to learn.
Stassi’s apology is better because Stassi has a ghostwriter. Both apologies are BS and are nowhere near good enough. Not only should everyone involved be fired, but Lisa Vanderpump and Andy Cohen and Bravo at large are all guilty by association. They are the ones that consistently give these people a platform to spew their hate and ignorance and then immediately bury their faces in the sand when it comes time for actual justice. I’m not saying that everyone (or anyone) on reality TV in general or Bravo in particular should be a wonderful, ethical person. But when you prop up monsters and fail to call out their monstrous behavior, the message you’re sending is that their behavior is A-OK. It’s infuriating and culturally irresponsible IMO.
Then there’s the fact that there’s virtually no integration on any of their shows – they have their “normal” programming that’s essentially all white, all the time, and then they have their token shows for everyone else. Everyone there needs to do better and has made it clear over and over that they just don’t care to.
I cancelled Andy Cohen ages ago, along with Bravo. He is an awful person who makes a living off of the toxic , misogynistic and racist antics of the all the programming he promotes. He is an evil instigator and propagator of the awful behavior the people on these shows. As a father he should rethink what he is putting out into the world with his platform. Can’t stand that guy! I wish Anderson Cooper wasn’t his friend.
Anderson is or was friends with Andy Cohen, Kelly Ripa, Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy Griffin. They’re all awful. Anderson has to be somewhat awful otherwise how how could these people be his circle of friends?
These two are the worst on the show and have been since I stopped watching years ago. They need to drop these two ASAP.
I watched one episode of that show once and they were all just a bunch of dumb aholes. Disgusting women- I hope they lose all sponsorships and get fired .
They are fired from Bravo!
Wow, now I can’t watch that show anymore even as a hate-watch. That is despicable behavior. What monsters.