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When Tamar Braxton was fired from her position as a co-host on “The Real,” the daytime talk show temporarily suffered in some ways, says Tamar’s former co-host Loni Love.
“You look at other talk show hosts. They get canned and contracts end all the time. … This was the first show that was like, all women of color, and it really tarnished the show,” Loni confessed in an interview with Entertainment Tonight. “I believe. It left this cloud of suspicion on the show, and it took like a couple of seasons for us to get over that,” Love explains. “The show wasn’t meant for that. The show was really meant to uplift and show diversity amongst women.”
While she is now able to speak openly about the firing, Loni admits that neither she nor her co-stars were allowed to defend themselves, something that she now calls a “mistake” on behalf of the studio.
“I think I got a bad rap, and all the girls got a bad rap. But it was really mostly on me because we weren’t allowed to speak about it and when you’re not allowed to speak about it, that means only one side of the story is out there,” Loni explained. “Then what happens is perception from that one side becomes reality, and that’s what hurts. It’s so unfair, but people in the industry, they probably know, but outside people don’t and that’s what is totally not fair.”
She went on to say that decisions about co-hosts are “all above my pay grade, but people want to believe what they want to believe.”
“None of the girls should have been blamed. None of us did anything,’ said Loni.
Loni also admits that she believed accusations that she played a role in the firing would blow over, but with social media, she quickly learned otherwise.
“I used to be the person that was like, ‘You know what? It will all blow over.’ But we live in the age now of social media where it doesn’t blow over. It’s there forever, there are things that everyone on the show has said that are still living. So, you still have to continue to fight for your character, and I think there’s nothing wrong with fighting for your character and fighting for your truth,” she explains.
The comedian will completely speak her full truth in her new book, I Tried To Change So You Don’t Have To.
“I’ve always been a strong person, and in the book, you will understand why certain things were said, why certain things weren’t said,” Loni said in reference to her book. “Hopefully this will give people another view.”
