When it comes to the hyper dramatic world of reality TV, “The Real Housewives of Atlanta” was one of the few shows able to boast with a nimble thin sense of pride that it didn’t display physical violence between its black female cast mates — though it certainly showed them verbally slicing each other down with assassin like fury. But all of that changed this past weekend during the reunion show when Porsha Williams attacked Kenya Moore after being taunted about her failed marriage. Now, a civil rights group is saying enough is enough and demanding that Bravo crack down on the violence on their reality TV shows.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, ColorOfChange sent a statement to Bravo’s parent company, NBC Universal, criticizing the channel’s reality TV shows for perpetuating the stereotype that black women are catty, angry and violent.
“We’ve been in contact with NBC Universal last week verbally and shared concerns in writing — specifically about this “Real Housewives of Atlanta” confrontation that was coming up,” stated Arisha Hatch, campaign director at ColorOfChange.
ColorOfChange says that it doesn’t want “RHOA” to be canceled, explaining that the show does have some positive portrayals of black women. But the organization does want Bravo to adopt new anti-violence rules for its shows, just like Vh1 did in 2012 when it adopted a no excessive violence rule for “Basketball Wives” after the series endured a serious backlash over violent outbursts from cast members like Tami Roman and Evelyn Lozada.
According to LoveBScott.com, Bravo already introduced such a policy after Apollo Nida attacked Brandon DeShazer earlier in the season and Porsha Williams may be fired for breaking that rule.
Although the excessive drama has brought in the show’s highest ratings ever (something which we’re sure Bravo’s happy about), the violent behavior on “RHOA” has gotten increasingly worse over the past two years and at this point, it’s not much better than the ultraviolent reality shows on networks like VH1 and Oxygen.
Read the full statement from ColorOfChange after the cut. – nicholas robinson
