Source: Poptower.com

After “Basketball Wives” creator and executive producer Shaunie O’ Neal announced that she wouldn’t return to “Basketball Wives” for Season 5 unless three castmembers were cut, Kesha Nichols, Royce Reed, and Jennifer Williams all received pink slips. Now all of a sudden Shaunie is saying she was totally “blindsided” by the cut.

TMZ reports:

“Basketball Wives” star Shaunie O’Neal says it’s not her fault three cast members were axed … telling people she learned the news when everyone else did …

But Shaunie is telling friends, despite the accusations, the cuts were NOT made by her. Sources close to Shaunie tell TMZ she was blindsided by the news. Shaunie says the production company leaves her in the dark about everything after she butted heads with them over the violent direction the show was headed (i.e on-air brawls and cat-fights).

According to our sources, Shaunie is upset over the current situation and wants Shed Media (the production company) to know she is willing to walk away from the series if it becomes something she no longer believes in.

So, Shaunie expects us to believe that she had nothing to do with the cuts? Is Shaunie redefining the word “blindsided” to mean “not blindsided at all” the way her show has redefined “wife” to mean “not married to anyone”? Maybe Shaunie is saying that she was blindsided by who got cut — especially since many thought it would be Tami and Evelyn. Still, it is hard to believe that she isn’t exerting control over who is in and who is out.

Further, her threats about walking away from the show if it becomes something she no longer believes in doesn’t make sense. What could possibly happen now that would make her walk away considering she has stayed put despite what happened last season?

Shaunie trying to distance herself from the problems on that show is ridiculous considering she is the creator and executive producer. But I guess the reality show star’s finger pointing isn’t surprising considering she has already said: “I won’t take responsibility for what [the show] has turned into.” Clearly, she will place the responsibility on any and everyone else instead. Shaunie is hard to believe though because, like with this most recent backpedaling, it is evident she is all about the drama both on-screen and off.

Do you think Shaunie is really in the dark about “Basketball Wives?”

Alissa Henry is a freelance writer living in Columbus, OH. Follow her on Twitter @AlissaInPink or check out her blog This Cannot Be My Life

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It’s a good thing I didn’t place a bet on who I thought Shaunie was cutting from “Basketball Wives” because I would have been wrong. My prediction was that she would leave the show (just as a cast member, I know she’s not walking away from the producer end), and cut Kesha and Kenya since they didn’t really add anything to the show this season, except being punching bags for Tami and Evelyn, but I was only right about one choice.

According to TMZ, Shaunie has cut Kesha Nichols, Royce Reed, and Jennifer Williams from returning next season and the girls will find out the news any day now—although if they read blogs they already know. The supposed reason is that they’re “dead weight,” but if that’s the case, Suzie should have been cut a long time ago because she didn’t even instigate any drama last season and it’s been painfully obvious from the beginning that that’s her only storyline.

It’s not hard to see why Jen is cut, considering her lawsuit and all, although how ironic that when she and Evelyn makeup she gets cut. Can’t have two people actually getting along on one season can we?

TMZ hears Royce was cut because she wasn’t legally allowed to talk about Dwight Howard due to a 2009 gag order, so basically she didn’t have enough drama either— Although that’s nothing new. The main reason is likely the fact that Shaunie and Evelyn refused to tape with her so unless she started dating another man before tapping began, her storyline would be pretty dead too.

I can’t even imagine who they’ll find to replace these three, although I’m sure it won’t be as hard as I imagine. Evelyn’s assistant Nia would fit in perfectly with her slap-happy ways. She better snag herself a baller within the next few months if she wants to actually get paid rather than sued for acting a fool.

Are you surprised at the three Shaunie cut?

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Although Kesha Nichols has recently announced that she won’t be returning to Basketball Wives next season, it’s clear that she certainly has a lot of other options. Although the dancer was a victim of bullying by Tami Roman this season, it seemed that Nichols came out on top with nationwide support for an anti-bullying campaign. It was certainly the most controversial season of Basketball Wives yet.

Nichols stopped by the Madame Noire offices in New York to clear up dating rumors, weigh in on the fairness of editing, and if she really accepts Tami’s apology.

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Source:blog.vh1.com

Kesha Nichols became the most empathetic character on this season of “Basketball Wives” after we watched her get verbally attacked by Tami on multiple occasions. Some didn’t expect to see the newcomer on the reunion episode due to her rough season and in a chat for VH1′s blog she told the interviewer had she not been contractually bound to attend she definitely would have skipped it, much like she plans on doing for season 5 of the show. Here’s what she told the site:

“Honestly, this whole season I’ve been waiting and hoping that something positive would come, and I don’t think they’ve really shown anything positive about me, about black women, about women in general. And I honestly didn’t realize that I was being bullied when I was in Tahiti, I knew that Tami was being mean to me and that nobody was sticking up for me, but when I watched the episode, that’s when I realized I was being bullied, and I’ve been lucky, never in my life have I experienced that, so maybe the reason why I was on the show was to see what it was like to be bullied and be a spokesperson for people that are being bullied.

“I had a conversation with Royce about doing another season if the show comes back, and I don’t know why I would. I’m never going to film with Kenya again, I’m never going to film with Tami again, so what purpose would I serve? I’m not about this life, so why would they want me to come back? And Royce was like, you have so many fans and people who look up to you, if you don’t come back it might look like you’re running. No, it looks like I’m removing myself from a negative situation. That’s all you can do when you’re being bullied by someone. Remove yourself from the situation. Because, clearly, not saying anything doesn’t work. This has definitely been a learning experience for me and I’m not going to let it break my spirit. I can make something positive out of anything, but it’s definitely been very hard.”

Kesha said she has it in her to snap but only when it’s something she cares about, and  like she said on the show, there was nothing she could say about Tami that would make her look worse than she made her own self look. That goes for the other women on the show too.

“I’m not going to fight a woman who’s fighting a battle with herself, it has nothing to do with me,” Kesha said. “And I wrote about this in my blog, but the rest of the women who didn’t step in are secondary adult bullies. I’m allowed to have an opinion about somebody going off on me, and she was mad at me because I said she was acting a fool, and what was she doing? Acting a fool again. What’s she going to do today? Beat me up because I called her a bully?

“I keep saying how lucky I am that I have a support group around me and family and friends who love me all around, but some people who don’t have that might go hurt themselves. What I’ve endured could take me to a really dark place and I haven’t let that happen, but there are people who don’t have the tools to help themselves out of situations like this.”

Good for Kesha for lining up her exit strategy. I can’t imagine who would sign on to be a part of next season.

Brande Victorian is a blogger and culture writer in New York City. Follower her on Twitter at @be_vic.

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Source: Gossiponthis.com

I know we’re not supposed to watch, but “Basketball Wives” is like a car accident, sometimes it’s hard to turn away. After last night’s episode though, I think I’m just about ready to flee the scene of the crime. Tami’s altercation with Kesha Nichols was truly painful to watch, although Evelyn and Shaunie playing both sides of the fence was even more infuriating (I finally had my AHA moment about her phoniness BTW). Anyway, there wasn’t a single person watching the show who could co-sign on the childishness Tami displayed, and surprisingly, the show appeared to be just as difficult for the bully to watch herself.

After last night’s episode aired, Tami tweeted an apology about her actions but truthfully, I feel like we’ve heard this before, and it really doesn’t come across as all that heartfelt. Here’s what she said:

“I just landed in NYC, but I did catch 2nites episode on the plane. As I said earlier, this was BAD, wrong & immature-I apologize…I’m not proud of my behavior, but I own up to it and face it. I do apologizee 2my family, my friends, my kids & 2 my cast members…The supporters who have been there, I’m sorry I let U down-this was not handled properly & I felt bad THEN and now….I simply ask that U b respectful 2my kids-they R NOT on BBW & do not control my actions on the show. Don’t become what U criticze….I would have blogged this but I wanted 2 address it as soon as I landed. Accept it or not, I acknowledge & apologize to ALL involved.”

Those don’t sound like the words of a woman who realizes her number is up. Had she specifically apologized to Kesha for her taunting, maybe this would be a bit more well received but at this point, she still thinks she has room to tell someone else not to judge her (don’t become what you criticize). Sorry, Tami you could be a whole psychological case study from that one episode of “Basketball Wives” alone. Even Nicki Minaj tweeted that she was disturbed and saddened by the episode, and just judging from her cult following of “Barbz,” I’d say that petition is about to get a few thousand more signatures easily. She also retweeted a blog post on bullying written by Kesha which reads in part:

“It has been difficult for me to decide what to include in this blog entry. As a person who prides myself on turning lemons in lemonade, I had no idea how to turn the negative display of human behavior seen in Episode 12 into something positive, until now. Instead of knit picking, pointing fingers and calling names, I decided to educate myself on the issue at hand. I would like to share some of this information with you now, because when we know better, we do better.”

Somebody please educate Tami on that principle.

What do you think about Tami’s apology?

Brande Victorian is a blogger and culture writer in New York City. Follower her on Twitter at @be_vic.

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Source: Pop on the Pop

Tami Roman must have come across Kesha Nichol’s exclusive interview with Juicy Magazine because she wrote a blog post the same day to address the beef with her “Basketball Wives” co-star, and well, from the title of “B****, B****, AND MORE B****,” you can see where this is going.

Tami not only gets on Kesha—again—for not coming directly to her about any issues she had, but she also says Kesha blew the whole “you’re not black enough” thing out of proportion, especially since Tami is mixed too(?). I don’t know ya’ll, here’s part of what she said:

“Do me a favor, don’t be such a liar and manipulator. I know you have friends in high ‘Executive Producer’ places, but let’s keep this all the way real.  When I met you, I approached you in a friendly manner and I did not have any issues with you what so ever. Everyone in this situation knows I was told you were Caucasian, so when I met you that is why I asked you. In that same conversation (which was edited out), upon hearing your answer, I said that I thought you were mixed but wasn’t sure of what it was – to be exact, my verbiage was, “I knew there was something else in you.” I wish you had been woman enough to ask me if I thought you were denying your “black” side and I would have cleared that right up for you. On the contrary, my saying that I thought you were mixed with something was in fact ACKNOWLEDGING that you may be of African American decent.  I am a product of mixed heritage and identify myself as a black woman also. I NEVER said you weren’t “black” enough… that is a flat out lie! I would NEVER try to belittle someone for that and I don’t appreciate you implying that I would.”

Tami adds that when she first met Kesha, she specifically asked her to discuss any problems she had with her directly and since Kesha didn’t do that, Tami implies she was right to blow up. The she adds this little sidebar:

“I am NOT a bully. People don’t understand that Keisha (sic) is NOT innocent in this matter and she does a great deal of lip boxing behind the scenes.  I am not going to try and be respectful when I have been disrespected numerous times…off camera.  If you are bold enough to talk behind my back, then you should be grown enough to handle the repercussions of your actions and words. The editors have done a wonderful job of putting my outbursts on the show but not showing the full chain of events. My outbursts are real, but they are also driven by something which is conveniently being edited out when it comes to Keisha (sic).  Wish I had an executive producer in my pocket…I’m just saying.”

I don’t think Tami knows the difference between talking behind someone’s back and asking someone’s friend for advice on how they should approach them with a touchy subject. That’s all Kesha was asking in my opinion, and she should be mad at Evelyn for telling Tami before her in the first place. Tami also has some choice words for Jen and Royce in her latest post, so these three might be full on beefing soon too. Sigh.

Does Tami’s blog post clear up her reaction or does she still seem crazy as ever?

Brande Victorian is a blogger and culture writer in New York City. Follower her on Twitter at @be_vic.

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Source: VH1

I have a feeling Kesha Nichols’ appearance on “Basketball Wives” this season will be both her first and last. Why? Because she’s professional, respectful, non-confrontational–you know all those things that apparently don’t make for good TV.

Although she’s a cast newbie, Kesha has already had a couple of spats. First, with fellow newcomer Kenya Bell over her music project and then with Tami who repeatedly called her out of her name because Kesha went to Evelyn about an issue she was having with her first instead of talking directly to her. Keysha handled both issues well on camera. But how does she really feel about the drama that’s ensued so far?  Here’s what she told Juicy Mag in an exclusive interview:

“I didn’t want what happened between Kenya and I to be so drawn out. I didn’t want to keep arguing with her because it wasn’t worth it. The first dinner we had with Tami and Evelyn, when we were meeting Shaunie, wasn’t the place to be hashing things out. And of course when you’re talking about something and you have three other opinions, things escalate and become a little bigger than what they really are. It didn’t really need to go there but that’s what the show is—all of us as a group talking about stuff. More than anything, I’m just not used to the cattiness and people being so vocal about their judgment of others.”

Although the situation with Tami hasn’t fully unraveled on screen yet, Kesha did explain why she took such offense to the resident bully’s accusations of her not being black enough:

“It’s never easy growing up, being half of one thing and half of something else especially when they’re complete opposites. I grew up in the South and when I was born it was never cool for interracial couples to be out and about, and it was looked down upon by the White community. My father and his side of the family weren’t in my life at all, so I was a little mixed kid growing up around all White people.

“My family loved me and never made feel any different but in school and other places I never felt White enough. As an adult, I’m around Black women that I want to relate to and now I’m not Black enough. It’s like I can’t win for losing. My question of “Blackness” was brought up on a previous episode by Tami. She said that I “didn’t look like a Kesha.” Whether my name is Kesha, Shaquana, or Becky—it doesn’t matter. I identify myself as Black. I feel if I want to relate to you as a Black woman, why would you ever want to push me away?”

Kesha also responded to a couple of shady rumors Tami and Kenya exposed about her getting Kenya’s soon-to-be-ex-husband’s phone number on camera.

“That was such a non-issue that it wasn’t even covered on the show,” Kesha said. “The show is all about drama. If there was something really there, don’t you think they would’ve jumped on that and made it a full storyline? They’re not trying to protect me anyway, I’m the new girl.

“I saw Kenya’s husband out in New York and it had been two years since I had seen either one of them. I was under the impression that they were still together and didn’t know that they weren’t. We had all exchanged information when were friends way back. When we started filming the show, I think he found out that Kenya was doing it and he texted me. He sent me a text that said “Hey.” I didn’t respond to it and I immediately told Kenya—end of story. It was nothing. That’s why we didn’t see it on the show.”

Kesha’s been handling the drama well so far, I just hope she doesn’t morph into a monster by the end of it all like the other ladies.

What do you think about Kesha? Will she survive the mean girls of “Basketball Wives?”

Brande Victorian is a blogger and culture writer in New York City. Follower her on Twitter at @be_vic.

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On Thursday, VH1 we will be broadcasting a livestream photo shoot featuring the entire cast of Season 4 of Basketball Wives Miami. Who exactly is included in entire? Suzie, Jennifer, Shaunie, Tami, Evelyn, Royce (guess the rumors about quitting were just talk), and the two new cast members, Kenya and Kesha.

The ladies will be on set shooting promotional pics for season 4 and chatting about their style, businesses, and what they’ve been up to since the end of last season. They’ll also be tweeting live and answering questions tweeted to them using the hashtag #BBW. Hopefully the ladies can manage to sit through hair and makeup without any problems.

The livestream will run from 11am-3pm EST Dec. 8. Will you check it out?

Brande Victorian is a blogger and culture writer in New York City. Follower her on Twitter at @be_vic.

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