‘RHONY’: Ramona Singer Says Eboni K. Williams is to Blame For No Reunion and Says Bravo Was Afraid of Backlash Over Allegations of Racism
The Real Housewives of New York alum Ramona Singer is breaking her silence on what she says went down during Season 13. Eboni K. Williams made history as the first Black housewife on the show, and viewers’ reactions were mixed. She clashed with some co-stars, including Singer, about microaggressions and politics, and reportedly accused Singer of making racist remarks. Singer says Williams’ allegations are the reason for the cast not filming a reunion special. She also says Bravo dropped the ball on how they managed the fallout.
Ramona Singer was investigated by Bravo for racial insensitivity
Rumors surfaced that tensions between Williams and her co-stars rose due to beliefs that Williams pushed too hard on her stance on racial issues. There was also an alleged dip in ratings with complaints that they felt Williams was too political and the show lost its entertainment value.
Multiple outlets reported that there was an internal investigation involving Williams that explored whether or not Singer made racially insensitive or discriminatory remarks to staff and co-stars. The results of that investigation didn’t find Singer guilty.
However, Williams says the rest of her co-stars stopped communicating with her. She claims that she tried to arrange meetings with her co-stars and the network about how to move forward, but was unsuccessful.
In an interview with Carlos King’s Reality With the King podcast, Singer told the reality TV executive producer that Williams showed up differently in her test taping than once she was cast. “She tested with Luann, and she talked about totally different things [outside of racial issues],” Ramona claimed. “We didn’t know that side of her. But also, in her defense, at that point, she was engaged to this very wealthy Jewish man, and she was going to become Jewish, and then that whole relationship fell apart, and maybe this was the only thing she had to fall back on was to talk about her struggle and her race.”
The former ‘RHONY’ star blamed Eboni K. Williams for no reunion special and eventual halt on production
For the first time in the show’s history, the show did not have a reunion special. Network sources alleged it was due to scheduling conflicts, while inside sources alleged it was due to the internal racial investigation and Singer’s refusal to film with Williams moving forward. Singer told King that there’s some truth to it, but she didn’t refuse to film.
“We are all set to go to film the reunion until she made some accusations about me. She went to Human Resources, which was really hurtful to me, plus it wasn’t true, it was founded untrue, and called me a racist. And I am a lot of things. You can call me unfiltered, not polite, always in a rush, I forget people’s names. Yes, I’m all of those but one thing I’m not, I’m not a racist, and the press picked that up, and they had a field day,” she said.
Singer says after everything was determined to be unfounded, the reunion show still didn’t go on as planned. Neither did filming for a subsequent season.
She says the restructure is a way for Bravo to save face
Fans of the show were stunned when Cohen announced the show as viewers know it to be would be no longer. Instead, the franchise would be broken up into two shows: a legacy show with all-stars from the past seasons and a new show with a younger and more diverse cast. Cohen said the intention was to showcase an authentic version of life in New York. But Singer disagrees.
“I think sometimes people in the world are afraid to do things – they want to do things that are politically correct. And just because something is politically correct, doesn’t mean it’s right. It doesn’t mean it’s good for viewers or for sales, or for ad money,” she told King. “And sometimes people are afraid to change things. I am very disappointed that they got rid of everybody and are starting fresh because I put my heart and soul into this show. So whether they renew me or not, that really isn’t the issue for me. It’s about how you could end it…I believe they did it because they were afraid, Bravo, they were afraid of a backlash. That’s my personal opinion.”
Singer says Williams continued to speak to the press after filming ended about the allegations and more, against Bravo’s wishes, noting that Bravo’s PR “couldn’t control her.”
