In all fairness, this Real Housewives spinoff has never claimed the moral high ground.
After all, just about every cast member has cheated on another cast member with a different
cast member.
But serial infidelity is probably the mildest offense this controversial cast has ever committed.
Here's the super shady side of Vanderpump Rules.
"Oh my God, why is it about the damn pasta!
Get over the damn pasta!
Read between the f---ing lines.
It ain't about the pasta!"
Original cast members Stassi Schroeder and Kristen Doute were axed from Vanderpump Rules
in June 2020, following a racially-charged scandal as Black Lives Matter protests swept
across the nation.
According to Variety, the decision came a week after former cast member Faith Stowers
claimed the pair, quote, "reported her to the police for a crime [she] had nothing to
do with," after reading a 2018 Daily Mail article about a black woman who was wanted
for theft.
Stowers told E! News,
"It was just funny, because they thought it was me because it was a black woman with a
weave.
So, they just assumed it would be me, and they called the cops on me…It didn't work,
so they were upset about that."
"Uh, I'm sorry, why the hell am I the devil?"
The pair swiftly issued public apologies, but the damage was already done.
In addition to losing their Bravo gig, Variety reports that Schroeder was dropped from her
agency and PR firm, while Doute was dropped from her book agency.
"Witches of WeHo, donezo."
And, as of mid 2020, Katie Maloney is the last one standing when it comes to the ladies'
wine brand collab, the Witches of WeHo.
Calling the cops on Stowers got Schroeder fired from Vanderpump Rules, but it's far
from her only transgression.
There is longstanding evidence which leads us to believe that Schroeder has frequently
expressed racial insensitivity and general cluelessness for acceptable social norms.
"You know what?
You're just f---ing sad that this isn't about you."
In 2017, the star was met with criticism for an episode of her Straight Up With Stassi
podcast, where she discussed the "Oscars So White" hashtag.
According to Us Weekly, who caught resurfaced audio from the since-deleted episode, the
reality starlet admitted she was, quote, "Really sick of everyone making everything about race."
But apparently, she had a lot more to say about it.
She added,
"Everyone [is] giving their impassioned speeches about race and all of that stuff, I'm like,
'Why is it always just about African Americans?'
Why aren't the Asians being like, 'We're not represented.'
Why aren't Native Americans and Latinos being like, 'We're not represented.'
And whenever they get upset everyone has to go above and beyond to then make them happy."
"What do I owe you again?"
At the time, Scarlett Johansson was still getting publicly eviscerated for taking on
an Asian role in Ghost in the Shell, which premiered mere weeks after Schroeder's outburst.
Schroeder has since apologized for both controversies, promising to, quote, "take accountability
for [her] own privilege."
But does anyone believe the woman who once labeled an outfit of the day, quote, "Nazi
chic?"
There's a reason Jax Taylor might think that Vanderpump Rules is his show.
"You're gonna make me out to be the bad guy?"
The bartender is seemingly immune to getting fired for the same transgressions that got
some of his co-workers axed.
(Looking at you, James Kennedy!)
The reality star was even welcomed back after quitting SUR in 2018 during an explosive confrontation
where he yelled to Lisa Vanderpump, the restaurant staff, and all of their customers…
"I'm so tired of everyone flipping the god---- script on me."
"What do you mean?"
"Flipping the f---ing script.
F--- you all."
By June 2020, even the show's longtime fans had turned on Taylor, calling for his dismissal.
The star was unsurprisingly also involved in the Schroeder-Doute controversy.
It all stems back to Season 6, when a now infamous tape revealed that Taylor had had
an affair with Faith Stowers behind the back of his now-wife, Brittany Cartwright.
“You know what?
This is real life.
It's not just one big happy Instagram story."
According to E! News, the serial cheater eventually owned up to the illicit fling even though
he initially denied it.
After all, the audio recording, where he claimed he would never propose to Brittany, and wasn't
attracted to her, made it pretty hard to hide.
"He said I was, you know, the best he's ever had, and he said Brittany's gaining weight."
Brittany ultimately forgave him, and Taylor lashed out at Stowers when the episodes about
the scandal aired, tweeting:
"[She's] wanted by the police for grand theft auto and AWOL from [the] military, bad idea
to be on a reality show dude.
Someone's going to jail."
In the end, nobody went to jail.
"Jax just got arrested.”
“Over a pair of sunglasses."
Two years before Taylor accused Stowers of grand theft auto, Jax himself was arrested
after allegedly swiping a pair of $300 sunglasses from a Sunglass Hut during a trip to Hawaii.
His fatal error was returning to the scene of the crime later that day.
"Bail is $11,000.
Who's gonna post the bail?"
According to a local news station, Taylor was charged with second-degree theft and took
a plea deal.
He was promised a clean record if he managed to avoid trouble during his 364 days of probation.
The star was also ordered to pay a $350 fine to Sunglass Hut, as well as "$105 to a crime
victim compensation fund, and $1,150 in other fees and fines."
Just buying the sunglasses would've been far cheaper.
The star also apologized to the courtroom, albeit in a very Jax Taylor sort of way, when
he said,
"I had too many drinks, too many mai tais.
I made a mistake, took full responsibility, and I understand this is going to follow me
the rest of my life due to the fact that I'm on television.
So I just want to say I'm sorry and I apologize."
"I mean, I clearly can afford a pair of sunglasses.
I don't know what I was thinking."
One would think that if you have a history of using racial slurs, you would thoroughly
scrub your Twitter account before deciding to become a reality star.
But TomTom's general manager let it all hang out until he was finally held accountable.
"I mean, it's great to have new faces, but their problems seem as complicated as their
predecessors."
Max Boyens' Twitter scandal erupted in January 2020, when he debuted as a new Vanderpump
Rules cast member in Season 8.
According to Us Weekly, social media users quickly uncovered a series of racist tweets
stemming back to 2012, including one where he argued,
"It upsets me that the [n-word] is not allowed to be said unless you are black because quite
honestly it's my favorite word."
After the mass backlash, Boyens issued an apology where he claimed he was ashamed that
he ever wrote those tweets, adding,
"It is not a representation of who I am."
According to Us Weekly, Lisa Vanderpump initially decided against firing him because he reportedly
does not currently hold those beliefs, but Bravo booted him anyway.
With the cheating scandal, Jax and Brittany were already welcoming a ton of controversy
into their marriage, and it looked like they had no problem with a little more.
As we saw during Season 8, the pair had to make the difficult decision to fire their
pastor amidst mass outrage, but the series never explained exactly what happened.
Lisa Vanderpump first revealed on the show,
"This pastor has made so many negative comments.
He was slamming same sex marriage."
According to BuzzFeed, minister Ryan Dotson, who planned to officiate the pair's nuptials,
had a long history of posting anti-LGBTQ statuses on Facebook.
Fans were quick to share screenshots with the couple, including a Facebook status where
Dotson alleged:
"Just because [same-sex marriage is] legal, that doesn't make it right."
"Social media's really lighting me up about this.
They made it seem like we were holding flags up, like, 'Anti gay.'
Like, I'm not going to, like, KKK rallies down the street."
It gets worse when you realize Taylor and Cartwright knew about the comments for at
least six months before firing Dotson, according to Page Six.
When they finally pulled the trigger amid public outcry, it didn't go without Taylor
somehow blaming Tom Sandoval for pulling him aside and asking about it during Stassi's
party.
According to The Daily Dish, Jax ended up temporarily kicking his castmate out of his
wedding party over the incident, even though others were also vocal about the controversy,
including Lisa Vanderpump.
Fortunately, the couple found a stellar replacement to officiate their wedding.
"Lance Bass is gonna do it."
"Stop!
Oh my god!"
With her newfound sobriety, Lala Kent managed to avoid scandal in later seasons, but that's
according to what we saw on TV.
Behind the scenes, the Vanderpump Rules star and her fiance, producer Randall Emmett, were
embroiled in a bizarre feud with rapper 50 Cent.
According to Us Weekly, the whole thing began with a petty jab on social media.
50 reportedly called Kent a derogatory term and shared a clip from Vanderpump Rules where
she talked about Emmett buying her luxury gifts, including a Range Rover just for hooking
up with him.
"The first night we banged, I got a car the next day."
Lala fired back on Instagram Live, accusing 50 of trying to…
"Diminish the validity of the Me Too movement."
It then devolved to 50 likening Emmett to Harvey Weinstein.
After that, 50 revealed the real reason he was sour: Emmett, with whom he partnered with
on Cheetah Vision Films, reportedly owed him $1 million.
The Grammy-winner posted some text screenshots between the pair as alleged evidence, but
all the Internet really saw was Emmett accidentally calling him "Fofty," with an "O," which unleashed
an onslaught of memes.
Eventually, Emmett paid up and "Fofty" had no regrets.
On Watch What Happens Live, the rapper finally revealed his thoughts on the public drama.
"Do you regret taking your beef with Randall to social media?"
"No.
I got me paid right away, paid right away."
In the past, former Vanderpump Rules star Billie Lee has spoken out about the alleged
transphobia she experienced during her tenure at SUR, which played out on-screen when she
was excluded from "Girls Night In."
After Lee endured an explosive argument with Lala Kent during Season 7, it was clear the
SURver had enough, but none of us could have known just how bad things had gotten behind
the scenes.
"I felt just this rush of shame when I wasn't included."
In the time since her exit, Lee has come clean about the real reason behind her departure.
In a blog post, the reality star claimed she was bullied on and off camera, which drove
her into a serious depression and ultimately led her to quit SUR.
She wrote,
"I honestly thought I was finished with this type of bullying after high school and college,
but once again I found myself 34, depressed, and fantasizing about taking my own life."
"You know, there's trans kids all over the world watching this show.
And I represent that in a way and it really was a big trigger for me."
More information came to light during Bravo's June 2020 firing spree.
In a tweet, Lee urged the network to cut ties with Jax Taylor, claiming he refused to film
with her because she is trans.
This seemingly referenced a portion of her original blog post, where she claimed an unnamed
cast member demanded she be fired from the show.
Jax reportedly said,
"I'm not gonna lose all I have worked hard for, for something stupid I may say or do
to offend her.
Are we all supposed to tip toe around her because she's trans?"
As of mid 2020, Ariana Madix and Tom Sandoval's relationship features immeasurably less drama
than that of their castmates, but that's probably because they got it out of the way first.
Fans may have forgotten, but during Season 2, Sandoval was living with his then-girlfriend
Kristen Doute when he cheated on her with Madix.
According to Wetpaint, who recapped the 2014 episode, Sandoval repeatedly denied his infidelity
before eventually admitting that he, quote, "made out" with Madix in Las Vegas.
This came after Sandoval already admitted to hooking up with a cocktail waitress…again,
in Vegas.
"Technically Kristen is the victim in all of this.
But she acts so bizarrely, that no one knows how to take her side."
It's hard to feel too bad about the situation, though, since Doute cheated on Sandoval with
his best friend.
In a blog post for Bravo, the scorned star went in-depth about the gritty end of their
relationship, writing,
"To set the record straight: I did have an…affair with someone years ago and I did sleep with
Jax.
Tom cheated with five girls in five and a half years.
In hindsight, it's obvious that Tom and I should have broken up a long time ago…For
so many years, I didn't feel like his girlfriend.
I felt like his mom, his personal assistant, his maid."
"I've grown, I'm a better person.
He can suck my motherf---ing d---."
Katie Maloney is certainly no angel.
In Season 8, we saw the star basically exile Kristen Doute from the Witches of WeHo over
a fight about seemingly nothing.
At first, Maloney seemed mad about Doute staying with her boyfriend, who she habitually complained
about.
On an episode of her podcast, Stassi Schroeder further claimed they dumped Doute because
her romantic indecision made them, quote, "look like bad friends," which unsurprisingly
did nothing to make Schroeder's case.
But however cold that may seem, it still doesn't mean that Maloney was deserving of abuse.
"I hated myself at times."
"Yeah."
"I hated myself."
"Yeah."
"I hated the way I felt.
I hated it."
Throughout her tenure on Vanderpump Rules, the star has been painfully body-shamed by
her castmates.
Most notably, James Kennedy, who got plastered at L.A. Pride, had a few choice words about
Maloney's outfit.
"Don't even get me started on you darling.
Those shorts aren't working for you, babe.
Lose some f---ing weight."
According to Us Weekly, Katie was also body-shamed by Lisa Vanderpump's designer, Kevin Lee,
in 2018, when he reportedly told her,
"You were much thinner than this…You have to work on it."
Things got even worse in Season 8, when Maloney's own husband Tom Schwartz drunkenly called
her, quote, "gross" and pretended he was vomiting just looking at her, in the middle of a party.
"I've never been more turned off in my life."
Thankfully, it seems like Maloney is moving on from those painful memories, at least,
she's forgiven Kennedy and hasn't divorced Schwartz.
Yet.
"It feels so good to feel like myself."
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