It looks like Monique Samuels has no intention of slowing down sharing her negative experiences dealing with Bravo during her time on RHOP. Samuels has been open about the network allegedly blocking her from speaking to press amid the fallout of her fight with Candiace Dillard. She now is revealing that the network also blackballed any media outlets who sided with her in the fight.
Monique Samuels says Bravo put her on a press ban due to fight with Candiace Dillard
Samuels says production immediately blamed her for the fight with Dillard. She told Jason Lee of Hollywood Unlocked during a recent appearance on his show that she had to go as far as speaking with Andy Cohen due to her frustrations.
Per Samuels, the network was hellbent on editing the fight in a way that made her look like the villain. But as the season began airing, they were forced to show the true series of events. Still, she says she was punished and forbidden from speaking about the incident publicly to tell her side of things.
“They tried to put a press ban on me as soon as the season started,” she says. “I hear people confusing the two saying Bravo blacklisted or blackballed me after I quit – not after I quit. It was when the season started – season 5. So, the whole time when people were talking about – the blogs about what happened with the fight, I was silenced. Then when it was finally time for me to speak, they tried to put me on a press ban.”
Samuels says she was never given a concrete reason for the press ban.
“But [they] couldn’t back up while they were banning me. They kept saying, ‘Oh you had strikes.’ Strikes when and where?! Send me that in writing. I need some documentation and they wouldn’t do it and it kind of fell through and I just kept doing the press that I could do.”
The ‘RHOP’ alum alleges the network also blacklisted media outlets who sided with her in fight
Not only does Samuels allege Bravo put her on a press ban, but she says she was later informed by outlets that they in fact wanted to speak with her but were told she was unavailable. She says she was even scolded for having professional relationships with owners of fan pages on social media and contacts from popular blogs.
“I was blasted for having a good relationship with fan pages, bloggers, YouTubers – I was like literally blasted for it,” she claims. “I’m like I’m just doing what I do, I’m just being me. I’m not giving them anything extra, I’m just maintaining a good relationship and I was blasted for that.”
Taking things further, she says the network told her flatout that they were refusing press from outlets who they felt outwardly supported Samuels in the fight.
“I was told, ‘We aren’t talking to them because they are too team Monique,’” she says. “Anybody that was having my back or were siding with me, they were blackballing them. And that I know for a fact.”
Samuels says the motivation behind the press ban and blackballing of outlets was to control the narrative of the fight and keep it under their control.
“I was supposed to be the villain,” she states. “You can’t have the villain out here getting good press.”
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