Bravo Responds To Bethenny Frankel’s Allegations Reality Stars Are ‘Silenced’ With NDAs

etcanada.com:

Bravo has issued a response after “Real Housewives of New York City” alum Bethenny Frankel teamed with top entertainment lawyers Bryan Freedman and Mark Geragos to call out the network for its alleged exploitation of reality TV stars.

While striking actors and writers are taking to the picket lines about a variety of issues, Frankel is shining the spotlight on reality TV personalities, who aren’t recognized by any unions — yet. “Something has to change because the current system is broken,” Geragos told Variety, while Frankel has suggested that reality stars form their own union.

In early August, Freedman and Geragos sent a litigation hold notice to Bravo’s parent company, NBCUniversal, warning that the “day of reckoning” had arrived, alleging that the network’s reality stars had suffered “grotesque and depraved mistreatment,” including being denied requests for mental health treatment, encouraging cast members of series to excessively consume alcohol during filming while depriving them of sleep,  exploiting minors by not compensating them for onscreen appearances, and the “draconian” NDAs they’ve been forced to sign. READ MORE: Bethenny Frankel Encourages Reality Stars To Also Go On Strike: ‘We Also Deserve Residuals’ “We are left with the inescapable conclusion that NBC and its production partners are grappling with systemic rot for which sunlight is the first necessary remedial measure,” Freedman wrote in a subsequent letter to NBCUniversal. “To date, that has been impossible owing to the draconian terms of NBC’s contracts with its cast and crew, which contain onerous confidentiality provisions coupled with ruinous penalties for breach.