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Eboni K. Williams claims her Real Housewives of New York City castmates refused to negotiate with her ahead of the series’ potential 14th season.
Following the news of RHONY being split into two shows, Eboni, who was added to the Bravo reality series as its first Black cast member for season 13, which turned out poor ratings, is speaking out. Eboni is sharing what led up to the decision and denying claims that she’s been “blackballed” by Bravo.
“I feel I was more than willing the whole season and after we aired and after we wrapped and after the decision to not have a reunion, I was always willing to negotiate with my former castmates about what an ensemble future could look like that included all of us, always right up until the very end,” Eboni told host Carlos King on the Reality with the King podcast, via PEOPLE. “They were unwilling is all I can tell you. They were unwilling to come to the table and meet me even halfway in that negotiation.”
According to Eboni, she and the cast were unable to come together to create season 14 due to their negotiation stalemate — and she believes that may have been the reason behind the show’s split.
“If you know anything about business, you know anything about the art of the deal, you can’t close that way. You can’t close when parties involved in the negotiation are unwilling to give, even an inch. So I think that more than anything is actually the reason, Carlos, that we are now getting these two shows,” Eboni explained.
While Eboni noted that Sonja Morgan was “willing to come to the table and negotiate a future that involved [her] as a part” of the cast, she was the only one who was. Meanwhile, the others, including Ramona Singer, Luann de Lesseps, and Leah McSweeney, were “unwilling.”
“If those same former castmates of mine had been willing to enter into the negotiation of coexisting and sharing space with myself and additional women outside of their particular New York world and bubble, you would have had a season 14 that was what everybody anticipated,” Eboni suspected. “A proper integration of old school, new school.”
Also on the podcast, Eboni clarified that she is “not blackballed” despite recent rumors, and she gave a nod to her recent appearance on Andy Cohen‘s Watch What Happens Live to prove her good standing with Bravo.
As RHONY fans may recall, it was reported after the cancellation of the reunion special that Eboni had filed a racism compilation against Ramona.
