More of Ramona Singer’s alleged racist behavior behind the scenes of “The Real Housewives of New York City” has been revealed.
While filming, Singer allegedly expressed racial hostility and used the N-word in a conversation with a black crew member during Season 13 production, Vanity Fair reported Monday.
The alleged use of the racial slur became a complaint within Shed Media, Warner Bros. Discovery, Bravo and NBCUniversal, but Singer denied saying it.
Before filming the 2021 season, the “RHONY” cast, including first-ever black star Eboni K. Williams, participated in a “virtual education session” that broached the topic of race and what types of commentary were not OK to say, according to the exposé.
Singer, Williams, Leah McSweeney, Sonja Morgan and Luann de Lesseps appeared on the call, as well as an NBCUniversal communications executive, a Bravo publicist and two representatives from a racial justice organization.
Williams, 40, recalled Singer, 66, asking why she shouldn’t speak to the racist trope that black fathers aren’t present in their children’s lives.
“’What if they don’t have a father? Why can’t I say that?’” Singer said, according to Williams. “’Most of them don’t.’”
The network publicist, who is also black, informed Singer that she has a father, but the “Housewife” said she’d read a study that confirmed that most black children do not. McSweeney corroborated Williams’ account, the publication noted.
“The training included ‘open dialogue,’” Singer told Vanity Fair in response to the allegations. “In that spirit, I asked a question about a statistic I had read about single-parent households, where children with single-parent households were statistically less likely to succeed than two-parent households.”
In November 2021, Page Six exclusively reported that Singer reputedly said, “This is why we shouldn’t have black people on the show” in response to a moment on the show that showed an upset Williams leaving de Lesseps’ house.
“I never said that. It’s a terrible lie,” she told Page Six at the time. “It’s very disappointing that even after my name was cleared that people still want to slander me.”
Vanity Fair, however, reported the same incident in its bombshell story but added that Singer allegedly went one step further and said, “This is gonna ruin our show.”
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Singer denied the incident again, adding in an email, “In fact, I supported adding diverse cast members well before before [sic] Eboni was added.”
The real estate broker’s comment about “RHONY” not needing black people reportedly made producers’ “hot sheet,” a post-filming document that recounts on-camera dialogue and action in detail.
King of Bravo and “Real Housewives” producer Andy Cohen received the hot sheet at the time and responded in an email obtained by VF, “These are incredible reads and will be amazing episodes. The fact that this particular journey through white fragility ends with Ramona DM’ing Bryan Cranston is next level.”
That same season, Singer also allegedly told a black female production staffer, “’There’s so many of you guys here now, please don’t change your hair as I’m not gonna be able to remember anybody’s names.’”
Singer responded to that claim by insisting it merely spoke to her “inability to remember names.”
“As an example, just last week I saw a photo with me and Travis Kelce from 2016 on ‘Watch What Happens Live’ and I thought he was Jax Taylor,” she said.
But two sources familiar with production told the magazine that Singer allegedly exclaimed, “There’s so many black chicks!” The former “RHONY” star once again denied the allegation, but footage from the show features her using the phrase “black chicks.”
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