A Black former recurring “Vanderpump Rules” cast member, who alleges that another cast member made racial remarks and other abuses while on the show, says in a newly filed sworn statement that Lisa Vanderpump warned her to keep quiet about alleged misconduct by another cast member — including using a knife.
Among the allegations in her Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit, Faith Stowers contends that another cast member — since fired — called the plaintiff’s hair “nappy” and also made racial slurs toward her over a loudspeaker. Another fellow cast member, Lala Kent, brandished a knife at her during an argument during Season 4 and placed it at the plaintiff’s neck, according to Stowers.
NBCUniversal Media LLC and Bravo Media LLC , along with “Vanderpump Rules”’ producer Evolution Media, want Judge Thomas D. Long to order that an arbitrator rather than a jury decide Stowers’ allegations based on her employment agreement.
But Stowers’ attorneys filed court papers Thursday in opposition to the arbitration motion, including a sworn declaration by the plaintiff, who portrayed a server on the show. According to Stowers, Vanderpump “warned me that I would be terminated if I could not find a way to get along with Kent, my attacker,” Stowers says. “Out of concern for my job security, I held my tongue and refrained from reporting the incident to law enforcement or disclosing it to the media.”
Bill Langworthy, the show’s executive producer, downplayed Kent’s alleged action and “strongly implied that speaking out would come with severe career ramifications,” Stowers alleged.
Stowers, 35, further says Evolution and NBC declined to exercise her option and made her sign a new agreement to be a volunteer rather than an employee for her final two seasons on the show.
`”I received no compensation despite being treated like an employee under Evolution’s and NBC’s complete direction and control and remaining a central part of the plot,” Stowers further states.
Stowers says she signed certain documents given her by the production and that she did not get any advice from a lawyer and never had the means or opportunity to meaningfully review or understand their terms, much less negotiate.”
“Vanderpump Rules” is an Emmy-nominated alternative television series produced by Evolution that has aired on Bravo since 2013. The program focuses around Vanderpump, a television personality and restaurateur, and showcases the real lives, dramas and romances of some of the servers in her restaurants.
“When racial inequities rocketed into the public consciousness following George Floyd’s murder, NBC and Evolution started facing backlash for their mistreatment of Stowers,” the suit filed April 5 states. “In an astonishingly cynical act of performative allyship, they belatedly terminated several cast members for behavior they had long known about. At no point did they ever reach out to Stowers herself.”
Stowers appeared on “Vanderpump Rules” as a recurring cast member in 2015 and a guest in 2016-17 and signed three arbitration agreements involving all three defendants, according to the Evolution Media attorneys’ court papers.
Stowers is represented by attorney Bryan J. Freedman, who also is the lawyer for Lyle and Erik Menendez and 24 of their relatives who support their release from prison.