By: Amanda Anderson-Niles
Why was Jennifer Williams fired from Basketball Wives? With “Basketball Wives Miami” returning in August, Shaunie O’Neal and company are in full damage control mode to make sure their ratings won’t suffer in a “Love and Hip Hop Atlanta” ruled society. There has been some changes made to the cast, and it’s been confirmed Royce Reed, Jennifer Williams, and Kesha Nichols will not be returning. Kenya Bell is rumored to only be returning in a minor role, but many are puzzled as to why the most violent people on the show (Tami Roman and Evelyn Lozada) are returning for another season considering Shaunie keeps saying she wants the show to move in a more positive direction.
In the upcoming issue of Upscale Magazine, Shaunie, Evelyn and Tami attempt to address their critics and explain how the next season of “Basketball Wives” will be more positive. Here are the most notable quotes from the interview.
On losing advertisers and the backlash they received from the public:
“[It] was so difficult to deal with when it was airing and when it was all over with. I remember saying, ‘what the hell just happened? This isn’t us; we’re mothers, we’re businesswomen. We have to be smarter. We have to represent ourselves a lot better.” – Shaunie
“People were connecting my behavior on the show with the incident with Chad. They were like, ‘Well if she acts like that on the show, then I’m sure she acts like that at home.’ I’m a totally different person at home.” – Evelyn
I was very depressed last summer. I was dealing with some things that were going on with my mother and everything that was happening with the backlash from the show. I started eating everything under the sun. I blew up to about 190-ish pounds. I’m a tall girl, so I wear it well, but I was bordering between [size] 14 and 16 in my clothes. – Tami
“By the time we did the [season four] reunion we all agreed enough is enough. We had a group talk and were all definitely on the same page. We heard the messages loud and clear. We knew we had to do better. It was an eye opener.” – Shaunie
And when it comes to giving Jennifer Williams and Royce Reed the boot, here’s what the ladies had to say:
“It was a chemistry thing. It just became awkward to film or even come up with a conversation. It just wasn’t working for TV.” – Shaunie
“Royce has been a non-motherf—ing factor for the last two seasons, so it just didn’t make sense anymore. And as for Jennifer—Shaunie is [being] nice but I’m going to tell you this—we don’t condone the incident with Jennifer, but we do reality TV. You know something’s bound to happen when you put a bunch of women together and there’s a lot of behind the scenes conversation and gossip going on. So when Jennifer went on this whole anti-show campaign, it was a little tough for us as cast members.” – Evelyn
Check out the cover below:
I don’t feel sorry for any of these women. They acted ratchet on TV and they can never make the world forget that.
I don’t feel sorry for any of these women. They acted ratchet on TV and they can never make the world forget that.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now AIN’T that the f-ing reality! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Now that some REALITY for their azz! I won’t be watching. Next please.
Umm why is this show coming back on. None of these birds are interesting enough to watch. The fact that they think they are so much more interesting then Jennifer and Royce is laughable all of them are birds that you couldn’t pay me to watch.
I won’t be watching. I will not contribute to Evelyn’s bank account. Nope. I refuse.
Agreed. And her comments show she hasn’t grown any. She’s still saying that wack non mf phrase. Grow up already.
Sigh…I am done with the show. I don’t appreciate them firing Jennifer and I’m tired of Evelyn’s evil a-s. All she does is ruin lives. Look at how she did Jenn and Chad. She’s a terrible person. Vile and disgusting.
Nostrils O’Neal continues her pimping of grown women.
They just need to go ahead and cancel this show. It doesn’t stand a chance. It has run its course. End it already.
Pretty much.
Nobody is going to watch this sh-t.
So basically all Evelyn is going to talk about is Chad? I’ll pass.
Lame!!!!! I don’t care about any of them. They kicked the people I like off!
This show will flop. They can feel it too. Magazine covers? Yeah, they are shook.
Tami shut your old drunk a-s up. You were not depressed about acting YOUR TRUE SELF on TV. Shut up and stop trying to play the victim. You were the bully, remember?
I don’t what it is was but I definitely laughed out loud when I read this. You’re a mess.
*know*
I agree Tami was one of my favorites until she shown how much a bully she was …..cancelled already
I guess they think everyone is stupid. Depressed? Oh GTFOH.
All I want to ask is Tami saying her depression is responsible for her terrible behavior????? I have been depressed from time to time and have never once stolen anyone’s purse or threatened to beat someones’ a*s as a result of it. IJS. Why can’t people just take responsibility for their bad behavior? It would be so refreshing for a change……. and that would include all 3 of them .I think a lot of times Shaunie is given a pass because she doesn’t show her a*s on TV. Nah, she just makes $$$ off of other women showing their a*ses…….I had hoped they would of sank this show by now..
I’m not interested. The show is boring and I don’t care anymore. To be honest, all reality shows have short shelf lives. Even LHHATL has lost its touch. Scripted TV is back and all these reality shows will be a thing of the past in a few years.
I bet $5 this show will be cancelled by the end of the season.
And none of the bishes are wives! Why keep calling it Basketball Wives?!
None of them actually REPRESENT A WIFE they make it just look like a TITLE!!!
#justsaying *shrugs*
All of these women are full of sh*+ they still was mean at the reunion. Those are they true characters all of a sudden when people telling you your bullying people in your late 40’s than thats not really you. I don’t want to hear anything negative about Chad and Shaunie starting mess and hiding her hand. They got rid of the decent people but keep these 3 rachet slut buckets on TV.
Co-sign all of the comments. My favorite was Royce because she wasn’t taking sh*t from no one. That’s why they got rid of her because she wasn’t bowing down to them. I really wanted her to get on Evelyn’s as* because she was always trying to fight or threaten someone. Shaunie sat there and condoned their behavior because she never called them out on acting like immature little big girls. Tami knows who to pick on and who not to pick on. It is hard to have sympathy for any of them because you would see how they would act and that was a part of their character. The behavior that you all may now demonstrate might be better when they come back on television., but it was only because their paychecks were threatened not because of any true growth on their parts. This is like the incident with Rick Ross you hit them where it will hurt the most (their pockets) and all of a sudden they see the error of their ways.
Shaunie is really a fool why does she allow evelyn and thami control her,my question is I know jen was fired because of the Law suit but then how about Thami the time she sued evelyn I feel its not fair or this girls just can’t stand jen being there.grow up b-tches
It’s a sad day to see Shaunie fire Jennifer and Royce while continuing to exploit boxing Tami and Evelyn. Here are two old ladies having ghetto throw downs while being pimped by Ms. O’Neal. Come on…Basketball Wives…Ha! What a fake title…,I think a more appropriate title would be Pimping Mizz Daisy’s…go on Shaunie with your pimping behind! I definitely won’t be watching your slug fest this time around. I have more intellectual things to do…. Like uplifting some beautiful young sistahs with positive artforms… Isn’t that what role models do?
Very well said!!!! Completely agree!
It is truly sad to see grown women behave in such an immature manner on television. I was truly horrified at the violent behavior shown on that show. I am a high school teacher and my students are more mature than these women. Sadly, all these women have children of their own. Tami and Evelyn are extremely violent and couldn’t seem to control their cruel behavior. In my opinion, what was portrayed on television represents who they really are and that’s sad! Shaunie did not behave violently but laughed about the inappropriate behavior which is just as bad as being violent. Jennifer is a beautiful woman who deserved to be on the show. They all disrespected her and treated her like dirt and when she defended herself, FIRED her! They should be ashamed of themselves. Their selfish, self-serving behavior will catch up with them, and I think it has! Ross didn’t bow down to the three of them (Evelyn, Shaunie and Tami) and they FIRED her too… SMH! When these women start being honest about what they did, people will begin to respect them. We all make mistakes; the key is to own up to those mistakes. Unfortunately, they still haven’t done that and want to continue to point fingers at everyone else. It’s So Sad 🙁
Ultimately, they fired two amazing people. Like previously stated, why get rid of the two MOST NON VIOLENT people on the show? Yes, Tami and Ev are cool and all but the way they act is not attractive at all. The show is now going to be a clique in a way, as you can see from the picture. It’s basically going to be Ev, Shaunie, Tami and the rest of the cast. I don’t think it will be as entertaining. Plus, if Jenn could have stayed, I feel it would’ve been a better lead way to rekindle her and Ev’s friendship. But Shaunie claims she wants the cast to act like women and yada yada yetttttttt, what have we see from them in the past seasons? DRAMA, FIGHTING, and more. You can’t just try to change a show that is popular for being an embarrassment to women into something positive. That is how you lose viewers. That’s like trying to change BAD GIRLS CLUB into something positive? LOL WTF!!? It’s not possible. The audience craves it. If she didn’t want drama and violence she should have been done with the show after season one. These “women” have entertained us for these years and NOW violence becomes a issue? When it comes down to it, if the show changes into something with no fighting nor drama, then it will just be a BORING show and eventually VH1 will just boot it off the air. .. And as far as Jenn and Royce, I’m pretty sure they fired Jenn because of the lawsuit with Niya. As for Royce, she barely had TV time anyway so they just gave her the boot. I will probably just watch the first episode and that’s it. Shaunie, it’s a little too late to try to “represent yourselves” as better characters. You’ve kept it going this long so why stop now?
Wow what can you say ? I have alot to say when.i first started watching basketball wives it was cool but as time went on it became ridiculous let’s start with Evelyn first of all you can tell she’s miserable she wants ti fight everyone but when chad headbutted her she went to the authorities but she jumped over the table hit people with purses and tormented jen what goes around comes around then she goes on ivanla fix my life are you serious is this a sympathy cry because she knew the public wasn’t feeling her anymorenow tami she lobes confusion she basically intimidated keysha ask her why in the fu-k you don’t remember what you said bitch I want you to go the fu-k off took her purse went thru her purse and kept her purse saying if she want it she has to come get it from me then when she felt threaten she went to the authorities and then tami gets mad please please take evelyn and tami to Detroit and film it please please suzie is like the devil herself shani is the lowest of the low because it’s her show and she allows this I wish the boy cott could have happened these women mske black women look horrible thank you for degrading our race and shani you uphold this behavior likr everyone said before I posted this this show is not even worth watching
I agree with all of what has been said here but black women are not the only group of women on reality tv who fight and get violent. Mob wives and Real housewives– and not just the wives of Atlanta have physically dukes it out on tv as well. Just sayin’.
Tami is ridiculous. She’s a bully. She’s a drama queen. She’s fake. She’s just a creep. She comes up with this, “you are talking about me…” like she is still in high school. Get over yourself. You think too much of yourself. No one cares “who you are.”
But I like Jen…I’m sorry that she won’t be back.
I think the show is pretty good , but them women need to grow the f— up , they to old i mean theres always going to be some kind of drama when you put women together , but grown a-s mothers lol come on and as for jen and royce i liked them , .
BBW yo coming down.i dint see any problm wid Royce n Jenny dis all about jelousy i guess i’ll not b seeing dis show again.f**k of……
LoL I Find it Hilarious how all of ya’ll are talking sh-t about the show and the cast. Like your
Lifes are perfect, thats there life and have the balls to put it out on national
Television,something most of you wont do due to critics, u dont like it then just dont watch. Like ur lifes were perfect,
Hipocrite Girls,
Bet most of yall still even watch the show just to talk sh-t, don’t waste your lovely time,
Lames!!!
It will not last Hang it up it’s over!!!!!!!……you took out the most valuable players from the game I love Jennifer and Royce they were ladies they carried them self appropriately. And as for Tamie I like her as well a little rachet but she real in women can really connect with her.