John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette Kennedy’s “Love Story” isn’t the only thing that’s having a 90’s resurgence. Girl group musical chairs is taking over and they are not playing games.
En Vogue is gearing up to tour with Salt-n-Pepa and TLC for their “It’s Iconic” tour, and it’s kicking up old and new dirt.
Original En Vogue members Cindy Herron, Terry Ellis and Maxine Jones, who recently rejoined the group, performed in November at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, leaving out longtime member Rhona Bennett, who subsequently departed the group.
Adding insult to injury, we hear the group didn’t reach out to Bennett before or after the high-profile diss.
Despite being a part of the group for over two decades, a source familiar with the situation described the ladies’ relationship with Bennett as more business than a sisterhood. “They were amicable, but it was really they’d show up to work, and then go home, or to their respective places,” the source said.
In later years, they communicated through counsel, we’re told.
Sources paint a picture of En Vogue as Ellis and Herron versus whomever they let in.
Former original En Vogue member, Dawn Robinson, has now stepped into the fray, coming to Bennett’s defense, saying she can relate to being snubbed by the group.
“They are bullies and they say who can and cannot stay,” Robinson said in a video she posted to her YouTube channel on Monday.
“They discard people like handwipes…. En Vogue can’t keep a member to save their lives,” she said.
Bennet has also been defending herself.
Current members recently sat down with People magazine, with Ellis claiming that it was Bennet’s choice to step away, saying, “She could be here. She chose not to be.”
Ellis also claimed they learned of her leaving the group from social media. “Next thing we know, we hear on social media that she left, she’s gone,” Ellis said.
Bennett took to her keyboard to address “inaccuracies” about how she left the group, suggesting their lawyers walked away from contract negotiations.
“This statement is misleading and does not represent what actually occurred,” she said on social media. “My lawyer received a formal notice from their lawyer that the contract they were offering had been withdrawn on November 11th.”
Bennet also said she was not informed of the RHOF performance in advance. “The suggestion that I declined participation due to a prior engagement is not accurate,” she said.
“My departure was not the result of a disagreement over a specific performance,” Bennett further explained. “For several months, our legal teams were engaged in contract negotiations. Ultimately, the terms presented were not aligned with my values or a level of mutual respect in the relationship,” she wrote.
Meanwhile, Robinson also called out Jones for returning to the group this past November.
“She obviously loves abuse,” Robinson said in her video.
Robinson then recalled when the group sued Jones for unauthorized use of the name En Vogue in 2012, saying, “I remember years ago when Maxine was sued by Cindy and Terry. She said she would never work with those skanks again. Those were her words, so now it’s funny to see how she has come back yet again, to work with those skanks,” she said.
Our insider told us they’d want nothing more than for the ladies to come together and have a public healing moment, but something tells us they’re never gonna get it.
In Robinson’s case, “I would never go back to this,” she said.
Her message to Bennett was to not let the group’s “nasty, treacherous, unspeakable behavior take away the love and trust you have for people.”
A rep for En Vogue and Bennett did not get back to us.
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