While Lisa Vanderpump condemns the actions that led to several members of the ‘Vanderpump Rules’ cast being fired from Bravo, she still believes her former employees are not racist.
“It didn’t make sense at all what they did, but do I think they are racist? 1,000 percent not, ”said the former“ Real Housewives of Beverly Hills ”star on“ The Skinny Confidential’s Him & Her ”podcast on Monday. “Because a lot of different people work for me, to whom they have been working very close for years.”
Vanderpump, 60, repeated, “Do I think it was a racist action? Not at all. I just think it’s terrible timing, and stupid and ignorant. “
In June, Bravo announced that they were firing Stassi Schroeder and Kristen Doute for allegedly calling the police on Faith Stowers, a black cast member of the popular reality show.
Season 8 newbies Max Boyens and Brett Caprioni were also let go of the network after racist tweets resurfaced online.
The layoffs took place as tensions mounted during the resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement.
Vanderpump told “Him & Her” hosts Lauryn and Michael Bosstick that with Schroeder, 32, she specifically had a “lack of consciousness,” “lived in her own bubble,” and so Bravo had to “do what they had to do.”
“I think everything was so inflamed at the time, but it was also an accumulation of things she’d done,” she added. “It wasn’t just one comment, and I think the fact that she was proactive about calling this whole Faith situation just wasn’t the way to go about things.”
Last year, it was revealed that Schroeder had almost commented on her now-canceled “Straight Up With Stassi” podcast about the lack of diversity at awards shows.
‘Why don’t the Asians say,’ We’re not represented. “Why aren’t Indians and Latinos like, ‘We’re not represented,'” she said in a previous episode. “And when they get upset, everyone has to do their best to make them happy.” The “they” referred to black people.
Vanderpump claims she was very naive to many of the comments her cast members made outside of her reality show.
“This story had never reached my ears and I’m sure everything they talked about back then, they thought it was funny… but I certainly had never heard that,” she said. “I never honestly listen to their interviews.”
The restaurateur admitted that she would have liked to see the personal growth of her cast members after the layoffs on television.
“I don’t like this cancellation culture either,” she said. “Of course I think that sometimes people should be punished and there should be punitive consequences and actions have consequences, but I think people can grow from their mistakes. Really, and I think reality television is a good place to learn and watch the growth. “
Last June, Bravo head Andy Cohen said he was behind the network’s decision to release several cast members from “Vanderpump Rules” because of their racist acts.
“I absolutely support Bravo’s decision,” he said on his SIRIUS XM radio show. “I think it was the right decision.”