The next season of the Real Housewives of New York is sure to be a wild ride. Leah McSweeney is returning for a sober second season. Eboni K. Williams is joining the cast as the first Black RHONY housewife. And she’s got a thing or two to say about Ramona Singer’s tone-deaf attitude and offensive comments that she gives half-hearted apologies for. Oh, and Holla Heather Thomson is returning to feud with Leah.
We know that race will be a major topic next season, according to Eboni and other new friend-of Bershan Shaw. It’s “unavoidable” as Eboni puts it after a year of racial reckoning that has touched nearly every new season of shows on Bravo. Corona Singer has a problematic past with doing whatever she wants, acting however she wants, and saying whatever she wants without repercussions. Except for this year, at least Gizelle Bryant hopes.
According to a story by Vulture, Eboni and Leah talked about the conversations surrounding race now that RHONY (finally) has added some Black women to the cast. “At first the women were definitely walking on eggshells a bit,” Leah said of Eboni’s entrance to the show. “Even New York City, where there’s so many different ethnicities, we are a segregated city. You saw Ramona’s birthday; there was not even a brunette person there. That doesn’t mean that Ramona doesn’t like Black people. There’s just no Black people in her circle of friends.” She added that this season is a “microcosm” of what’s happening across the country, so they couldn’t help but have conversations about race.
Additionally, Leah made a pretty odd statement about how Housewives will act now that Bravo is expanding the diversity on its shows. “How do you be the shady bitches that you’re supposed to be without looking like racist shady bitches?” Leah said. Come on, Leah, there’s definitely a clear line between humor and bigotry. That’s like saying how can anyone be a fun-loving, crazy housewife if they are sober. I’m sure Leah will still find a way to do it. And there have been plenty of housewives who are hilarious AF without being offensive. And Kelly Dodd is definitely not included on that list.
RELATED: Andy Cohen Says Ramona Singer And Kelly Dodd Are “Not Problematic”
Eboni was also interviewed for the article, where she calls herself a “full-on Bravoholic.” Same girl. She also talked about coming into the show as its first Black castmate. “I would say that my time at Fox News was a primer for my experience on the show,” she said. Wait I can’t help but laugh at her comparing the conservative news station to hanging out with Ramona and LuAnn de Lesseps. “It’s a fool’s errand to go into these conversations thinking you’re going to change the other person. All you should really concern yourself with is delivering clear, authentic, fact-based, emotionally authentic communication,” Eboni continued. She’s absolutely correct, but Ramona is a lot like Teresa Giudice. Honest and fact-based aren’t really their thing.
Eboni went on to talk specifically about navigating conversations with Ramona. “It’s really never me saying, ‘Oh, let me have this conversation with Ramona so I can get her to understand Black Lives Matter.’ That is not my f–king job. Bravo didn’t pay me for that. Nor is it even my assignment to get all of the people that watch this show to understand that. Like, I’m really not a teacher on this show,” she said. Damn right. No one is expecting Eboni to be the end-all-be-all fix for people with opinions like Ramona. They’re expecting her to be a badass housewife, that’s it. But like she said in the article, “If people get an education, that’s amazing.”
RELATED: Eboni K. Williams Feels Like Third Wheel Filming With Ramona Singer And Sonja Morgan
Eboni has already had to deal with “fans” being racist online and she hasn’t even made her official debut. But like her newly revealed tagline says, “I’ve had to work twice as hard for half as much, but now I’m coming for everything.” And based on her short performance in the first trailer, she’s going to live up to that promise. Can it please be May 4th already?
TELL US – WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT LEAH’S COMMENTS THAT HOUSEWIVES CAN’T BE SHADY WITHOUT BEING ACCUSED OF BEING RACIST? ARE YOU EXCITED FOR EBONI TO MAKE HER DEBUT ON THE SHOW?
[Photo Credit: Bravo]