Former Vanderpump Rules star Faith Stowers is suing NBC Universal over allegations of racist harassment, retaliation, and — perhaps most shockingly — violent threats made against her by co-star Lala Kent during her brief run on the hit Bravo show.
Of course, you should recognize Stowers’ name. For one, she was a cast member on the fourth and fifth seasons of VPR, which aired between 2015 and 2017. She was also the one who claimed in June 2020 she’d suffered racist discrimination at the hands of several other cast members, including Kristen Doute, Stassi Schroeder, Jax Taylor, and Brittany Cartwright. Stowers, the show’s only Black cast member at the time, claimed among other things they had attempted to implicate her in a series of thefts which she did not commit, and then tried to insinuate that she was not honorably discharged from the military after her eight years of service given to the country.
Days after Stowers’ claims were made on Instagram in early June of 2020, Bravo parted ways with all four cast members in an infamous decision. Of course, Jax, Brittany, and Kristen have since had something of a renaissance. They’re all starring on Bravo’s new series The Valley right now. Now Stowers is back now, too — and she’s levying shocking new allegations.
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On Friday, with attorneys Bryan Freedman and Marc Geragos representing her, Stowers filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles against NBC Universal. In it, she accuses the media company of racial harassment and retaliation. But the most notable allegation made in the suit is a new one involving Lala. Per Variety and others, Stowers’ suit alleges the Give Them Lala star brandished a knife at one point during an argument the two were having while filming for season four. She supposedly held the blade to Faith’s neck and threatened to “cut a bitch.”
WTF???
Stowers initially wanted to go to cops over the alleged “knife incident,” which is understandable. But she claims in this new court filing producers discouraged her from calling the police. What’s more, Stowers says Lisa Vanderpump herself warned her she’d be fired if she couldn’t find a way to get along with Lala. Which, if the knife allegation is true, how the f**k are you supposed to get along with somebody after that?!
The suit goes on to claim Stowers was paid just $5,000 to work as a cast member in the fourth season. $5k for a whole season of TV is ROUGH! After that, she claims she was demoted to an unpaid position and referred to as a “volunteer” for the fifth season. That demotion, the suit argues, was a direct retaliation for her threatening to go to the cops or otherwise speak up about mistreatment. Furthermore, Stowers claims that in February of 2018, NBC supposedly warned her not to go public with any VPR stories as it would violate the terms of her contract.
In a statement to the media, Freedman and Geragos noted:
“NBC and Evolution [production company] clearly believe that workplace safety rules, employment laws, and basic decency do not apply to those in reality TV. Vicious assaults, racist harassment, and impugning the service of veterans are apparently acceptable to NBC and Evolution for the sake of ratings. Faith did not know what kind of cesspool she had found herself in and reported this unlawful behavior to her superiors. In response, she was demoted to ‘volunteer’ and stripped of her already meager compensation.”
Also notable is the behind-the-scenes story with this lawsuit — and the fact it was just filed now. For one, per Variety, Stowers is about to launch a tell-all podcast about her alleged experiences on the show. And the fact that she hired Freedman and Geragos for this job is also significant. Those two lawyers have recently represented other Bravo stars including Brandi Glanville and Rachel Leviss — each of whom have leveled mistreatment allegations against the network and its employees and cast members. Rachel even has a podcast, just like Faith is about to. Plus, the lawyers have also worked with former Real Housewives of New York star Bethenny Frankel on her so-called “reality reckoning” against Bravo and Andy Cohen.
Inside baseball aside, though, this new Lala knife claim is CRAZY! Jeez!! Do U buy it?! Thoughts, Perezcious readers?? Share ’em in the comments (below)…
[Image via Judy Eddy/MEGA/WENN]
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