Andy Cohen FIGHTS BACK Against Leah McSweeney In New Legal Filing!
Andy Cohen FIGHTS BACK Against Leah McSweeney In New Legal Filing!
Bravo’s Andy Cohen has hit back against former Real Housewives of New York star Leah McSweeney, urging a judge to dismiss her discrimination lawsuit as “speculative” and “demonstrably false.”
In a federal lawsuit filed last month and obtained by RadarOnline.com, McSweeney alleged that Cohen “tormented, demoralized, demeaned, harassed, and retaliated” against her “because she is a woman with disabilities, such as alcohol use disorder and various mental health disorders, all in the name of selling drama.”
The complaint, which listed Warner Bros Discovery, Shed Media, Bravo Media, and NBC Universal as defendants alongside Cohen, claimed that Cohen fostered a “rotted workplace culture” that pressured employees to consume alcohol, alleged his involvement in cocaine use with Housewives and other personalities, and asserted preferential treatment and editing for Housewives involved in such activities.
Cohen’s legal team vehemently refuted the accusations, branding them as “categorically false” and demanding a public apology. According to Deadline, Cohen, along with co-defendants NBCU, WBD, Lisa Shannon, John Paparazzo, Darren Ward, Shed Media US Inc, and Bravo Media, filed a motion this week urging U.S. District Judge Lewis J. Liman to schedule a hearing to dismiss the case.
In a memorandum of law accompanying the motion, Cohen’s lawyers stated, “While Plaintiff attempts to overwhelm with a 754-paragraph complaint, even a cursory review of her allegations reveals that many concern matters entirely irrelevant to her claims and most are devoid of any factual or legal support, speculative, misleading, and/or demonstrably false.”
“Many of Plaintiff’s claims, supported only by the most conclusory and threadbare allegations, should be dismissed as a matter of law,” the 32-page memo continued. “The rest of Plaintiff’s claims should be dismissed because they impermissibly seek to abridge Defendants’ First Amendment rights to tailor and adjust the messages they wish to convey in their creative works, including through cast selection and other creative decisions.”
“Under well-settled law, even if Defendants did want to use the Housewives franchise to feature inebriated cast members (which they do not), that message — achieved through casting and directing decisions — would be protected under the First Amendment.”
In response, McSweeney’s attorney, Sarah Matz, countered, stating, “We do not agree that the motion has merit — it mostly argues for dismissal on technical grounds essentially saying that Defendants were allowed to discriminate against Ms. McSweeney — not that they did not do it.”
“To agree with the Defendants would be to essentially say that the creative industries are not subject to anti-discrimination and anti-retaliation laws and that networks could engage in discrimination and retaliation with impunity, which is not the law.”
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Avigail is an Entertainment blogger at All About The Tea, who specializes in The Real Housewives of Atlanta and The Real Housewives of Potomac. Avigail has a background in marketing. She’s a Brooklynite living in the Bahamas, with a passion for travel, writing, reality TV watching, pop culture and spoken word.