‘They Feared A Lawsuit’ Jeff Lewis Believes Threat of Lawsuit Drove Living Spaces To Fire Him!

Flipping Out’s Jeff Lewis doesn’t take kindly to being unfairly dismissed. It was a year ago when Jeff revealed that he had been fired from a creative director position at furniture retailer, Living Spaces, due to an aired squabble with one of their employees. Jeff sounded off during a last-season episode, after their employee, a woman named Channa, did not follow through with responsibilities linked to a catalog photo shoot.

“Channa doesn’t care about my shoot and she’s either doing this deliberately to sabotage me or she’s just completely forgetful and inefficient, so either way I don’t want her there.,” Jeff commented.

The bitterness continues, as a new season of the hit Bravo design show plays out. Jeff spilled the tea on Heather McDonald’s podcast last week, explaining what he believes could have taken place, behind the scenes. Jeff dished the dirt on a recent installment of Juicy Scoop—giving listeners better  understanding of the drama.

Jeff clarified what originally went down, which ultimately led to his dismissal.

“That [the aired incident] actually had been the third time she [Channa] had failed to do her job,” Jeff said.

Heather asked what exactly happened, after Jeff openly shared his disappointment in Channa, on the episode.

“Living Spaces was very interested, obviously, in putting this on the show. They were very accommodating with signing all the releases. I think there were some people, who were reluctant,” Jeff explained. “I think what she had said is that she felt coerced into signing this release, she felt called out and embarrassed on television, and I think she threatened to sue them. I think it came down to her or me.”

“I think they feared a lawsuit from her—so they let me go,” Jeff continued. “I think it would have been cheaper to pay her off, because of all the bad  publicity they have received.”

Jeff upped the “juicy scoop,” and dished on what might have been behind the business decision.

“She had been there a very long time—there’s was a gut instinct that she either had something on them, on either the owner personally—as if maybe he had stepped out of line, and she had something on him, or maybe there was some questionable business practices, or something,” Jeff spilled. “I don’t know—I just felt like ‘what is this woman’s hold on these people?’. I just felt like she knows where all the bodies are buried, and maybe they’re afraid of her talking—I don’t know, it’s just all a guess.”

Heather asked Jeff if his social media lash-out did him any favors business-wise. Jeff admitted that it was a bad business move.

“It actually has scared a lot of major retailers,” Jeff admitted.

Jeff clarified why the firing has been such a bitter pill to swallow—a detail he has alluded to on the show.

“I normally am pretty good about—I’ll grieve, I’ll get angry, I go though all the stages, then I purge and let it go,” Jeff explained. “We had a three year contract, and they paid me out through the second year. They just didn’t pay me for the third year.”

Jeff goes on to explain that he had turned down other jobs because of this contract—which carried with it a “substantial amount of money.” Jeff said that when he confronted the company about the debt, they promised that the legal battle would end with his money being gobbled by attorney’s fees. Jeff described the attempt to settle the contract “nasty and ugly,” and that  the way they handled it “didn’t sit right” with him. The designer also noted that the social media spanking was designed to be funny, light and entertaining—and that he has never spoken negatively about Living Spaces  products, or business practices.

Catch Jeff Lewis on the new season of Flipping Out, airing tonight at 9 pm ET.

 

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