Lisa Vanderpump is coming out swinging in her reaction to last year’s contentious Vanderpump Rules firings and (maybe related?) slew of abrupt show departures.
The 60-year-old SUR owner and longtime reality TV personality knows how this industry works, of course, but to hear her talk about it now, we’re honestly surprised she has this stance! Honestly, it’s not a great look…
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On Monday morning, Lisa went on the latest episode of Dear Media‘s The Skinny Confidential Him & Her podcast to talk about her public-facing work with the Bravo reality TV empire and the restaurant biz. During the discussion, though, she showed pretty significant regret over axing Stassi Schroeder, Kristen Doute, Max Boyens, and Brett Caprioni after allegedly racist behavior and disturbing old racially-charged tweets which first came to light last summer.
The star went so far as to deny any “racist” wrongdoings on their parts:
“It wasn’t right what they did at all, but do I think they’re racist a thousand percent? No. … I have a lot of diverse people working for me that they [were] very close to over the years. Do I think it was a racist action? No, not at all. I just think it was just awful timing and stupid and ignorant.”
Hmmm… she went on to further admonish her young employees (and past employees), by adding:
“You can’t be cavalier just because you’re young and unaware.”
True! Being young and ignorant is not an excuse for racist behavior!
But can we talk about that first comment?! Lisa might be able to get away with calling some of the actions “stupid and ignorant” in regards to Boyens and Caprioni, since digging up public figures’ old tweets has become a particularly weird phenomenon.
But Schroeder and Doute literally called the cops on Faith Stowers, the show’s only Black cast member, and falsely accused her of committing theft! That’s next-level bad, putting a Black woman in front of the police and delivering phony accusations all the while! And to brush it under the rug because they were “very close” to “diverse people” is some real bull s**t! Come on, Lisa!
The Tom Tom owner wasn’t done there, though! Like every Baby Boomer, she couldn’t possibly walk out of the interview without blasting “cancel culture,” too! UGH!
Never mind it involves people getting canceled for, you know, objectively s**tty things! No! To Lisa — and so many other Baby Boomers, honestly — this idea of “cancel culture” remains the world’s biggest problem. To wit, the Vanderpump Dogs co-owner lamented:
“I think reality television is quite a good place to learn. I don’t like this cancel culture either. Of course, I do think sometimes people should be punished … and actions do have consequences, but I think people can grow from their mistakes.”
Hmmm… OK, so, which is it? Actions have consequences, or people can grow?
She did use James Kennedy as an example here, pointing out the longtime cast member took a while to find his footing on TV and in life:
“It was a complete nightmare [early on] and then you see suddenly [Kennedy] comes out of that, like, a butterfly coming out of a cocoon where he’s suddenly — he’s not exactly a butterfly — but he’s definitely, you see him making progress and I think [to] see progress in youngsters is a wonder.”
Ooookay…
FWIW, Lisa is not the only high-powered reality TV veteran to show regret over the show’s lineup changes! Bravo head honcho Andy Cohen previously told the New York Times that he was having second thoughts about canning Doute and Schroeder in a telling December 2020 interview about the subject.
But are Lisa and Andy right? Did VPR producers and Bravo execs make a mistake?! Or does truly bad behavior deserve serious consequences?! Sound OFF with your take on all this down in the comments (below)!!!
[Image via Nicky Nelson/WENN]
The post Lisa Vanderpump Denies Fired <i>Vanderpump Rules</i> Stars Were 'Racist': 'Just Awful Timing And Stupid And Ignorant' appeared first on Perez Hilton.