NBCUniversal & Bravo Slammed For “Sordid & Dark Underbelly” Of Reality TV; Porn, Sexual Violence, Booze & More Alleged As Potential Suit Looms

deadline.com:

In Hollywood’s current labor climate, Bethenny Frankel’s desire for a reality TV stars union may seem like a sideshow. However, as NBCUniversal learned this week, the Real Housewives vet and her lawyers want to put the matter centerstage. “Please be advised that the day of reckoning has arrived,” exclaims a distinctly not understated letter sent on August 3 to NBCU top in-house lawyer Kimberley Harris from attorney Bryan Freedman in conjunction with fellow lawyer Mark Geragos (read it here).

Advising the Comcast EVP and NBCU General Counsel that they are representing a “significant number of individuals” from the so-called unscripted space, the attorneys blast the media giant for alleged “grotesque and depraved mistreatment of the reality stars and crewmembers.” They pound the drum even harder with affirmations that the “sordid and dark underbelly of NBC’s widely consumed reality TV universe has remained under wraps for far too long.” Now this is the kind of language Tinseltown lawyers love to use to strike fear in the hearts and wallets of their targets.

And, most of us would assume that it’s obvious that “sordid” is literally the soul of reality TV. However, underneath the hyperbolic phrases there is a very real point to Freedman’s letter, an opening stage so to speak.

Declaring virtually every piece of paper and gigabit the company has ever had about reality TV shows like the Real Housewives franchise has to now be preserved as possible evidence for a lawsuit, the lawyers also state that “while our investigation is still ongoing, we have reason to believe that cast members and crewmembers on NBC reality TV shows have been subjected to disturbing mistreatment by NBCUniversal and/or its employees, contractors, and