Eboni K. Williams has shaken things up during her relatively short time on Real Housewives of New York.
The show, which has been running for 13 seasons, has only just cast its first Black Housewife — and Eboni says she’s not concerned with making her castmates comfortable.
She is about the liberation of her people.
“I was [apprehensive], but I also felt like ‘y’all know who I am ‘… The network knew who I was, and there [were] plenty of folks–brilliant, beautiful, dope Black women–who don’t necessarily do, eat, live, and breathe this work of Black liberation the way I do,” she told The Jasmine Brand. “So to me, them selecting me told me they were about the business of leaning into these conversations [about race].”
Unlike some of the other predominantly white Housewives shows, the New York ladies have a very skewed perception of race and the world around them. Barring more progressive Houswives such as Carole Radiziwill and Dorinda Medley, several of the cast members were open supporters of Trump… even attending fundraising events for the right-wing former commander-in-chief on the show.
New York City is one of the most diverse cities in the world. The addition of a Black Housewife was long overdue.
“Frankly, I was not going to tiptoe around these women when it came to any of it. When it came to showing the beauty of Harlem that is Black and beautiful… I’m not playing with y’all when it comes to the pride that I felt to see my sorority sister [Kamala Harris] elected as the first woman of any color to the executive level of office. I’m not playing with y’all… Their comfort is just not my concern.”
Eboni has already had minor showdowns with a few of the ladies, namely Ramona Singer and LuAnn de Lesseps. But it’s going to take some time before these ladies are sufficiently caught up.
Eboni says she has still not managed to avoid the over-used “angry Black woman” trope, as calm and collected as she has been on the show.
“I was left with no other conclusion that there’s a correlation between me as a Black woman and you describing me as angry,” she said. “And I have to look no further than the discrepancy of you calling me angry [while] Leah cussed you out, called y’all hoes, and ran the h*ll out of [t]here. Ramona two seconds [prior to me saying] anything, standing up, beating on the table [saying] ‘I don’t like this!’ [But] nobody’s angry. And I’m ‘angry,’ so we know it’s about that.”
