EXCLUSIVE: Less than a week before NBCUniversal’s big pitch to advertisers in the Big Apple, Andy Cohen the jewel in the media giant’s Reality TV crown isn’t shinning so bright after all.
Despite Bravo’s insistence that an investigation by an outside party has cleared the Real Housewives franchise boss of “unsubstantiated” allegations of cocaine use, alcohol abuse, and sexual harassment, attorneys for Leah McSweeney and Brandi Glanville say it’s all a sham.
“This is perfect timing,” McSweeney’s lawyer Gary Adelman told Deadline Thursday after Bravo put out a statement calling their Cohen probe “completed” and done. “One line so they can repeat it to all the advertisers at the Up Fronts.”
“How do you have an investigation without speaking with to anyone?” McSweeney’s main lawyer added, declaring that their client was never interviewed by the outside investigation law firm. “Our opinion is that no one is going to believe this was a real investigation.”
“I am looking forward to reviewing the details of report from the ‘independent’ investigation,” Glanville’s attorney Bryan Freedman declared. “Since there was no finding of wrongdoing, there, of course, would be no need to hide or otherwise bury the findings.”
“NBC did not speak with the complaining witnesses,” Freedman said also of his client. “How is that an investigation?” Writing to NBCU and Warner Bros Discovery brass on February 22, Glanville claimed she was sexual harassed by a video from Watch What Happens Live! host Cohen in 2022 telling Glanville that he, an openly gay man, wanted her to watch him have sex with “another Bravo star that night” and more. Later that day Cohen said the video with he and Kate Chastain was meant as a “joke” but still “totally inappropriate and I apologize.”
As the spotlight increasingly turned on the underbelly of the Real Housewives series and unscripted TV, McSweeney sued Cohen, Bravo, NBCUniversal, Warner Bros Discovery, production company Shed Media and various producers on March 7. In her jury trial seeking complaint in federal court in the Empire State, the Real Housewives of New York City star accused Cohen off using “cocaine with his employees to further promote a workplace culture that thrives off drug and alcohol abuse, which leads to a failure to accommodate employees who are disabled and attempting to remain substance free.”
McSweeney took to social media the same day to further pull back the veil and state: “Your favorite Bravo shows are run by people who create a dangerous work environment, encourage substance abuse to artificially create drama and cynically prey on the vulnerabilities of their employees.”
Cohen’s own lawyers at Gibson Dunn threatened to go after McSweeney herself if she didn’t “immediately retract and withdraw” the allegations. She didn’t and they haven’t made a legal move of their own.
With the Bravo statement of that probe exonerating Cohen, McSweeney’s attorney Adelman scoffed and added: “We look forward to reviewing all of the interviews, evidence and final reports of the investigation that NBCU conducted, when we receive them during the Discovery phase of the lawsuit.”
While sources at NBCU say the outside investigators did try to talk to McSweeney and Glanville via their lawyers, Bravo had no comment on if they had reached out to the two women or their attorneys. The NBCU unit also would not release a copy of the report into Cohen’s behavior, citing attorney/client privilege.
If NBCU do send a comment we will update this post.
With What Happens Live picked up until the end of 2025 and a boatload of the lucrative Real Housewives shows renewed today, Cohen may seem as secure as anyone can be in Hollywood. And perhaps he is going into the May 13th NBCU up front, but, despite the company proclaiming any look into claims of his misbehavior all handled, this is nowhere near over.
The post Leah McSweeney & Brandi Glanville’s Lawyers Throw Stones At Probe Clearing Andy Cohen Of Drugs, Drink & Sexual Harassment Claims appeared first on Deadline.
