The ‘Reality Reckoning’ Keeps on Reckoning…

This week, Brandi Glanville alleged that Andy Cohen, her former boss, sexually harassed her back in 2022. Cohen then apologized for his "inappropriate jest."

By Audra Heinrichs | February 23, 2024 | 5:24pm

Photo: Shutterstock Entertainment

The ‘Reality Reckoning’ Keeps on Reckoning…

On Thursday, attorneys for Brandi Glanville, the former Real Housewife of Beverly Hills star, sent a lengthy letter to NBCUniversal, Shed Media, and Warner Bros. Discovery that accused Bravo executive producer (and her former boss), Andy Cohen, of sexual harassment.

“Over the past year, Ms. Glanville has been subjected to a vicious media campaign based on false allegations of sexual misconduct,” the letter written by Glanville’s legal representation, Bryan Freedman and Mark Geragos, begins. It then proceeds to cite recent accusations levied against Glanville after an alleged incident during the production of an unaired season of Real Housewives: Ultimate Girls Trip in early 2023. “The false narrative, which NBC and Shed Media have apparently decided to foment, arises from Ms. Glanville’s experience on Ultimate Girls Trip: Morocco. While the experience has been a nightmare for Ms. Glanville, it is far from the first time Ms. Glanville has been used and abused by NBC, Bravo, Warner Bros., and Shed Media.”

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According to the letter, an “inebriated” Cohen sent Glanville a video message that expressed “his intention to sleep with another Bravo star that night while thinking of her and invited her to watch via Facetime” in 2022. Glanville, as a result, is described as having felt “disgusted.”

Hours after Glanville’s allegation made headlines, Cohen offered his perspective of the exchange via Twitter: “The video shows Kate Chastain and I very clearly joking to Brandi. It was absolutely meant in jest, and Brandi’s response clearly communicated she was in on the joke. That said, it was totally inappropriate and I apologize.” NBCUniversal, however, has yet to publicly respond to the allegations.

“Any boss who is clearly inebriated encouraging their employee by FaceTime video to watch their boss have sex with another employee, constitutes sexual harassment, plain and simple, under any definition, even one concocted by NBC,” Freedman and Geragos said in response to Cohen’s tweet in a written statement to Jezebel.

“Any other supervisor at Comcast/NBC who engaged in this behavior would be fired immediately on the spot. It is no excuse to say that this was a joke. NBC has mistakenly given Andy too much power across their network. He is a man who hosts reunions across several cities in the franchise, producing and starring in his own show to promote these vehicles, hosting a juggernaut conference monetizing the “Bravosphere” on the backs of women, and is the capo running this reality machine. NBC has clearly decided that he is too big to fail.”

Their letter goes on to state that Glanville has “long been taken advantage of by the institutions with which she is indelibly tied personally, professionally, financially, and in the public mind” and that her story is one of “thousands” they’ve heard and is “part and parcel of the Reality Reckoning.”

Now, if the phrase “reality reckoning” sounds vaguely familiar, you probably remember it being used during former Real Housewife of New York City Bethenny Frankel’s attempt at unionizing her fellow bravolebrities in July 2023. Additionally, the attorneys who sent the letter advocating on Glanville’s behalf are none other than the same legal team behind Frankel’s Norma Rae era and this other threatening letter.

“Mark Geragos and I have heard from thousands of current and former cast members on reality shows about the physical and emotional harm inflicted on them by virtue of their participation. NBC, Bravo, Warner Bros., and Shed Media intentionally obscure their legal rights, bind them to illegal contracts, and knowingly cause them to suffer in silence. We know there are untold numbers of innocent victims who have yet to tell their stories or seek legal redress,” Glanville’s letter asserts. “We encourage all of them to contact us and join our growing team as we fight for change in this sordid industry.”

Glanville’s accusation against Cohen arrives just a month after she herself was accused of sexual assault by her Ultimate Girls Trip co-star, Caroline Manzo in a lawsuit against Bravo and other NBCUniversal entities: “Defendants, including Bravo, regularly ply the Real Housewives cast with alcohol, cause them to become severely intoxicated, and then direct, encourage and/or allow them to sexually harass other cast members because that is good for ratings,” the filing alleged.

I don’t know about anyone else, but I’m looking forward to seeing where else this reality reckoning might go…