Real Housewives of Potomac: The complicated issue of violence and Bravo

The Real Housewives of Potomac is dealing with a physical fight this season, but Bravo’s history says they won’t do anything about it.

The Real Housewives of Potomac has not had issues with violence before, but other franchises have.  NeNe Leakes assaulted a producer on RHOA and her punishment was sitting out two episodes.  The Real Housewives of New Jersey throw wine glasses all the time and even had a hair-pulling incident last season, while Lisa Rinna attacked Kim Richards over the table a few seasons back on RHOBH.  But now that Monique Samuels got violent with Candiace Dillard Bassett, where do we go from here?

Everyone knows someone like Candiace.  Talks too much, generally annoying, taunts you in front of your friends, and then acts surprised when you do something about it.  With that said, Monique crossed the line by getting physical with her.  She touched her first by getting in her space and flipping her hair.  And, no one deserves to be attacked for being annoying.  Save that for Twitter!

Monique was throwing her hands in the group while production and the rest of the cast were trying to separate her from Candiace.  She had a handful of Candiace’s hair and would not let go.  At some point, Candiace threw a glass at her face.  Candiace had the right to defend herself.

Once production got them separated and Candiace was getting into the car, Monique snuck around the building and tried to attack her again.  “You better not bring her around me.  I’ll kill her,” Monique said.  It was clear Monique was seeing red at that point and her actions were not well-thought-out.  Again, Candiace has the right to feel unsafe in her work environment.

Now what?

But Bravo has made it clear that violence does not get you fired.  How could they suddenly start with Monique?  “There’s enough shit about black women fighting and scrapping,” Candiace said, and she didn’t want to contribute to the negative image that society can sometimes have about Black women fighting.  But when it happens on RHONJ, no one gives it a second thought.  They are just crazy housewives from New Jersey, right?

But now we have Candiace, an independent contractor (most likely) of Bravo, who (most likely) does not feel safe in her work environment anymore.  Do they suddenly fire Monique to make a point?  They didn’t fire any of the other ladies or even keep Michael Darby and his handsy hands from filming.  Where do we go from here?  Will any of the other ladies refuse to film with Monique?  Because that’s a good way to get fired if nothing else works.

Dr. Wendy is doing what she can

After the violence was over, the juxtaposition of Wendy Osefo preparing to give political commentary was stark.  “I go on the news and speak up for the people who were not given a seat at the table a chance to have a seat at the table.”  Wendy noted that many people would look at the fight that took place between Monique and Candiace and say, “See?  That’s why we don’t give people like that a seat at the table.”

And she’s right.  All of these women have worked so hard to be seen as hard-working, strong, intelligent Black women and one violent night can unravel it all.  That’s the biggest issue here – what happens with Monique and Candiace after the fight.  How does Bravo address this correctly?  Their history says they will sweep it under the rug, but can’t we use this as a learning moment, instead?

The Real Housewives of Potomac will be back next Sunday at 9 PM.