‘RHOA’ Alum Nene Leakes Calls For Bravo Boycott and Starts Petition
Nene Leakes departed The Real Housewives of Atlanta earlier this year after a contract negotiation became impossible. The OG of Atlanta did not come to terms with Bravo and she had given insight on social media making claims of racial discrimination. Weeks later, Leakes went on a Twitter rant against Andy Cohen and Wendy Williams making serious allegations. Now, the “Come and Get This Hunni” hitmaker is promoting a petition to boycott the cable network that made her famous.
Why is Nene Leakes lashing out at Bravo?
Leakes fired up a storm on social media once again when she called for a Bravo boycott. The Fashion Police alum was not messing around when she said she was going to put up a fight and it started by calling on her fans to turn off their TV’s.
“Y’all ready to start this boycott yet? What has happened behind the scenes is WRONG,” Leakes tweeted. “While others were being promoted, BLACK WOMEN who created shows, created genres, built franchise, and built networks were being DEMOTED…TURN OFF YOUR TV’S.”
In a second tweet, Leakes urged her followers to “sign the petition when you see them, repost the boycott flyers when you see them, turn off your TVs.”
What does the petition ask for?
Leakes later tweeted the link to the petition asking to Boycott Bravo. At the time of publication, over nine thousand people had signed of the ten-thousand signature goal. The petition is seeking to hold the cable network “accountable for their dirty deeds, particularly as it relates to the unfair and biased treatment they have displayed toward their African American talent, more specifically Nene Leakes and Mariah Huq.”
The petition claims that both reality TV personalities “have been greatly disrespected, under-appreciated, and devalued right before our eyes.” Cohen, the executive producer of The Real Housewives, is also alluded to but never mentioned by name.
“Nene has given so much to this network only to be devalued when it comes to other opportunities within the network in comparison to non-black talent,” the petition continues.
They claim that Leakes was not given the opportunities to have a spinoff, creative control of a show, or attach their name as an executive producer.
“We have witnessed her sacrifice her physical health, have her mental health jeopardized, and her spiritual well-being tested,” the petition adds. “It is also evident that your disciplinary actions are far more stringent when it comes to your black talent. This is not acceptable and needs to be more balanced.”
Bravo and systemic racism?
The online petition claims that this action by Bravo “is affirmation of systemic racism.” Therefore, they are calling for fans to not watch the cable network anymore to provoke ratings to spiral which would “be a detriment to the future success” of Bravo.
Ahead of the boycott petition, Leakes had been asking for help amongst her Twitter followers.
“If you know someone that works in the U.S. Department of Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in California, New York or Georgia, please have them contact me,” the tweet read.
No official response from Bravo has been made public as of now.
