A Housewife will finally get her day in court. On March 31, Southern District of New York Judge Lewis Liman issued an Opinion and Order in the case of former The Real Housewives of New York City (RHONY) and The Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip (UGT) cast member Leah McSweeney vs. network front man and Housewives executive producer Andy Cohen, codefendants Bravo and the network’s parent company NBCUniversal; as well as RHONY and UGT’s production company Shed Media, its parent company Warner Bros. Discovery, and producers Lisa Shannon, John Paparazzo, and Darren Ward. Judge Liman ruled that three of McSweeney’s claims could move forward: a hostile workplace environment claim regarding her substance abuse disorder and mental illness, a reasonable accommodation claim, and retaliation under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Ten additional claims regarding the same issues were dismissed with individual producers as defendants but can still be pursued against the corporate defendants, and 20 claims alleging sex and religious discrimination were dismissed entirely.
McSweeney’s case is one of several recent filings by former Bravo cast members, including former Real Housewife of New Jersey and UGT star Caroline Manzo and UGT supporting cast member Marco Vega, who both allege drunken sexual misconduct from costar Brandi Glanville (who is not named as a defendant in either case) at the encouragement of producers. Those cases are pending the New York Supreme Court’s decisions on motions to dismiss from Bravo, NBCUniversal, Shed Media and their subsidiary company Forest Productions, Warner Bros. Entertainment, and the streaming service Peacock. Regarding the decision in McSweeney’s case, Derek Smith, the attorney for Vega and Manzo, told VF, “The decision is a win for Leah McSweeney allowing her core claims to move forward. The decision is also a win for all reality television participants. It establishes that television producers cannot discriminate against their employees while attempting to hide behind the First Amendment. Discrimination is not a constitutionally protected activity. The Court held, ‘The right to expressive speech does not carry with it a general exemption from all laws that would govern conduct on the set.’”
In February, former Vanderpump Rules star Rachel Leviss filed a revenge porn and eavesdropping suit against former castmates Ariana Madix and Tom Sandoval. The lawsuit, which is slated to go to trial in November, reads, “Fomented by Bravo and Evolution in conjunction with the cast, Leviss was subjected to a public skewering with little precedent and became, without exaggeration, one of the most hated women in America.” (Madix and Sandoval have denied the allegations.)
Judge Liman, who has never seen Real Housewives, said in November that if McSweeney’s argument prevailed, “maybe reality [TV] doesn’t survive.”