Former Vanderpump Rules castmate Faith Stowers has filed a lawsuit against NBCUniversal for racial harassment. While some of the allegations outlined in the lawsuit have been well-documented and discussed previously by both her and other castmates, there are some details that are new to many.
Faith alleges that on one occasion, her former co-star Lala Kent held a knife to her throat during filming and threatened to “cut a bitch”. She says she was discouraged from filing a police report about the incident by the show’s executive producer. Faith also named Lisa Vanderpump in the lawsuit, alleging she was told by Lisa that if she couldn’t get it together and work happily alongside her colleagues, she would be removed from the show.
Faith also says she was subjected to racial slurs on a regular basis, was mocked on set by her colleagues for having “nappy hair” – and most notably, she highlights experiences she had with former castmates Kristen Doute and Stassi Schroeder, in which they publicly accused her of being “a serial criminal who had been drugging and robbing men throughout Los Angeles” and going AWOL from the military, something they revealed on podcasts, which is what prompted their firing.
Faith responded to Stassi and Kristen’s 2020 firing, calling it an “astonishingly cynical act of performative allyship.” And considering the fact that both women were tapped to star on The Valley, and Kristen is now on the show a mere four years after Faith brought what they did to her to light in an Instagram Live, she’s not wrong.
Also important to note, Faith’s lawyers are none other than Bryan Freedman and Marc Geragos. If those names sound familiar it’s because they are also the lawyers chosen by Bethenny Frankel in her pursuit of a “reality reckoning”. The pair’s law firm provided a statement to The Hollywood Reporter slamming NBC and Evolution, saying that these networks clearly do not apply workplace safety rules, employment laws and basic decency to reality TV.
“Faith did not know what kind of cesspool she had found herself in and reported this unlawful behavior to her superiors. In response, she was demoted to ‘volunteer’ and stripped of her already meager compensation,” the statement read.
They’re not exaggerating when they say the compensation was meagre. Faith says she received $5,000 to appear in the show’s fourth season before being demoted to a “volunteer” for the fifth season. For context, in its inaugural season, cast members were paid $10,000 for the entire 10 episode season. 11 seasons later, they show’s stars are making more than three times that at $35,000 per episode. So to have been somewhere in the middle of the show’s run still earning less than everyone did in its very first season is clearly saying something, even if she wasn’t a “main” cast member.
In fairness to the business model of the show – and any show, really – it doesn’t work in a way that everyone gets to make a killing when they’re not providing great content and great storylines. In the early seasons especially, producers really have to try people out before they can determine who makes a good fit for the show – and really what that equates to is the amount of drama or entertainment value they can bring. But while Faith may not have been the most memorable cast member in her debut seasons, I have always felt that she is owed something for having to wear the scarlet letter over her hookup with Jax while he was dating Brittany.
Of all the lawsuits being levied against the parent networks of reality shows, Faith’s is probably the most nuanced. Previously, I credited Leah McSweeney with having the most substantial claims in her lawsuit due to concerns surrounding the deliberate attempt to get her to abandon her sobriety. But Faith’s are certainly up there with Leah’s, largely because there is a proven track record of the poor treatment she endured while on the show and even after it – again, something Stassi and Kristen acknowledged their part in on podcasts and in last week’s episode of The Valley, which I discussed in last week’s Reality Recap.
While my heart has been absolutely broken for Faith over the years as she’s spoken out about what it was like to be the only Black cast member on Vanderpump Rules in the earlier seasons, it’s unlikely that most people can or will empathize with her experience. While the experiences she’s describing of being subjected to racial slurs, comments about her hair, being told by higher ups to suck it up ring true for so many women of colour, these are hollow cries at best for people who have been lucky enough to never be subjected to that treatment. And I’m afraid the way she’s gone about filing her lawsuit will only exacerbate people’s inability to lend her empathy and grace.
First, she’s aligned the timing of her lawsuit filing with the launch of her new podcast, called The Frequency, which she’s co-hosting with a Black skincare brand owner named Marcus Millions. The premiere episode was last night and judging by the lack of headlines, the lawsuit didn’t do much to build momentum for it, but it does make her lawsuit look a little opportunistic given the timing.
Second, this is not Faith’s first brush with lawsuits. Back in 2023, she set up a GoFundMe page to help with legal fees to sue Stassi over a book she wrote the year prior chronicling her experience of being cancelled. It was entitled, I sh-t you not, Off With My Head: The Definitive Basic B*tch Handbook to Surviving Rock Bottom.
Since her so-called cancellation, Stassi, like Ariana post-Scandoval, has fared very well. Sold out shows, made appearances on top podcasts, and the book she wrote about being cancelled became a New York Times bestseller. So I can totally understand Faith’s frustrations over Stassi profiting off of her racist actions, but it’s very obvious that her approach is not serving her well.
But perhaps the most damning thing about all of this is news Faith will be in a movie called Cash Out 2: High Rollers directed by none other than Lala’s ex, Randall Emmett. She’ll be starring alongside John Travolta, and has been praising Randall in the press tour for the movie, contradicting much of Lala’s claims against her ex-fiance.
“I think he’s awesome,” she said. “I think Randall was a good guy with me — I’ve never seen him do anything crazy or weird. He’s always talking about his kids. He loves his kids.”
What might’ve served her well, rather than making a veiled attempt at sticking it to Lala in aligning herself with Randall, would’ve been to align herself instead with the likes of women and former Real Housewives Bethenny and Eboni K. Williams. Both women have an incredible wealth of knowledge about the reality TV landscape and the legalities surrounding it. But with Eboni in particular, Faith would’ve had someone who a) has expert legal opinions in the form of her education and career and b) someone who can empathize with being the sole Black castmate on a show full of white people whose racism was hard to escape.
The question of whether the other number of lawsuits TV networks are currently facing help or diminish her case is hard to answer. Her lawsuit could be looked at as proof that the allegations extend far beyond what’s been presented already. But on the other hand, her case could be looked at as her expecting some sort of handout, particularly on the heels of setting up a GoFundMe to assist with legal fees.
My fear for Faith is that her continuous attempts to seek retribution against Stassi and Kristen for their treatment of her will water down what she went through. And her working with Randall, an alleged sexual predator, really calls a lot into question. People are already growing so tired of hearing her speak about her experience that other people who may experience racism in reality TV settings may not face an audience that’s willing to hear them out. That’s why this is so nuanced, because Faith faces the incredibly difficult task of trying to make her case something people believe in and care about, despite those very same people being complicit in upholding the very environments that contributed to her having these experiences in the first place. Here’s to hoping that she gets what she’s after, scarlet letter and all.
