Real Housewives of New York City star Ramona Singer is at the center of another racism scandal, this time facing accusations she complained adding a Black cast member would “ruin our show,” and allegedly used the N-word in front of a Black crew member.
The claims were published Monday, Oct. 30, in an exposé by Vanity Fair. The article included interviews with Eboni K. Williams, the first Black cast member on RHONY, and several others who worked on the Bravo series.
According to Williams, Singer showed her true colors when the cast attended anti-racism training before filming season 13, which premiered in 2021. The seminar included lessons on recognizing microaggressions and avoiding harmful language.
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Williams told the outlet Singer mentioned absentee Black fathers during the training session. When the cast was told to avoid using such stereotypes, Williams said Singer responded, “What if they don’t have a father? Why can’t I say that? Most of them don’t.”
Singer downplayed the comment when contacted by Vanity Fair.
“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,” she said.
Singer is also accused of telling 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.”
The article also alleges Singer used the N-word in a conversation with a Black crew member during production on the show’s 13th season.
In an incident that aired on RHONY, Singer and fellow cast member Luann de Lesseps said while filming that they were uncomfortable with words like “dick” and references to sex. Williams said the words didn’t bother her. In response, De Lesseps, replied: “I don’t like the way you talk.”
As the conversation became heated, Williams said: “Your white fragility is killing me right now.” Someone who was on set at the time told Vanity Fair, Singer reacted angrily off camera to Williams’ comment.
“Ramona slammed her hands on the table. She goes, ‘This is why we didn’t need Black people on the show… This is gonna ruin our show,’” Singer allegedly said.
When asked about the comment, Singer told the publication she “absolutely” did not make the comment.
After a string of conflicts involving race and religion on the show, fans demanded Singer be fired.
Bravo ultimately rebooted RHONY with an all-new cast for season 14, which debuted on July 16, 2023.