Andy Cohen has apologised after Brandi Glanville accused him of sexual harassment.
Andy Cohen has apologised to Brandi Glanville
The former 'Real Housewives of Beverly Hills' star claimed in a letter sent by her lawyers to Bravo's parent company NBCUniversal, Warner Bros. and production company Shed Media on Thursday (22.02.24) that the 'Watch What Happens Live' host had sent her an inappropriate recording in 2022, and while the 55-year-old presenter has said sorry for the "inappropriate" clip, he insisted Brandi was "in on the joke".
In the letter, lawyers Bryan J. Freedman and Mark Geragos wrote: “Ms. Glanville herself has been a victim of sexual harassment at Bravo by none other than Andy Cohen.
“In a video sent by Mr. Cohen to Ms. Glanville in 2022, Mr. Cohen — appearing obviously inebriated — boasted of his intention to sleep with another Bravo star that night while thinking of her and invited her to watch via Facetime."
After the letter was made public, 'Real Housewives' executive producer Andy wrote on X: “The video shows Kate Chastain and I very clearly joking to Brandi. It was absolutely meant in jest, and Brandi’s response clearly communicated she was in on the joke. That said, it was totally inappropriate and I apologize."
And a source insisted it was "very clear" the recording was a joke.
An insider told People magazine: “No one in their right mind would think that anything Andy was saying in that video was meant to be taken seriously.
"It was very clear that everyone was in on the joke.”
But in the letter, Brandi's attorneys were critical that Andy "remains in his post" at Bravo and hit out at the companies for a culture where “profits were prioritized over people.”
They called the presenter's actions an "extraordinary abuse of power" that left their client "feeling trapped and disgusted".
The letter added: “Mr. Cohen was Ms. Glanville’s boss at the time and exercised complete and total control over her career."
Last January, Brandi was asked to leave filming of 'Real Housewives: Ultimate Girls Trip' in Morocco after allegedly kissing castmate Caroline Manzo multiple times without consent and groping her off-camera.
According to the letter: "The cast spent the day in question drinking alcohol, smoking marijuana, and, at the end of the evening, learning how to belly dance.”
At “a party thrown by production,” the women began “dirty dancing” with each other, but Brandi denied anything inappropriate later happened in a bathroom that evening.
with allegations of misconduct that occurred between the two in a bathroom later that evening.
Her attorneys wrote: “We have heard about a supposed ‘bathroom incident’ through press leaks, but Shed Media has repeatedly refused to allow Ms. Glanville or her counsel to see the footage in question; there is no truth to any allegations of impropriety.
“Ms. Glanville and Ms. Manzo were never alone together that evening."
Caroline is suing NBCUniversal, Bravo and Shed over the alleged incident, and Brandi's lawyers claimed in their letter that as a result she has been "subjected to a vicious media campaign based on false allegations of sexual misconduct" and the "character assassination" has led to "financial ruin" for her.
They accused the media companies of "deliberately refashioning a series of intimate moments between two consenting adults into a #MeToo scenario."
They added: "This is a transparent attempt to cut ties with Ms. Glanville in a manner intended to deny her recourse, discredit her, and ward off damaging revelations that Ms. Glanville is uniquely positioned to reveal.”
The letter was sent in a bid to preserve evidence for the reality star “since our client is asserting rights that may result in litigation" and told the recipients to “take immediate steps to preserve all existing documents and data relevant to Ms. Glanville’s claims against NBC, Warner Bros., Shed Media, and/or Caroline Manzo to prevent the overwriting or any other possible destruction of relevant documents and data.”
This included all correspondence between the parties in the letter and audio and video from filming the show.
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