Marco Vega, the butler on the second season of Peacock‘s The Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip, filed a lawsuit alleging he was sexually assaulted by cast members Brandi Glanville and Phaedra Parks.
The suit filed on Friday in the state of New York lists as defendants Bravo, Forest Productions, Warner Bros., NBC Universal, Shed Media and Peacock.
Vega appeared in the second season of the series that brings in Real Housewives cast members from across the franchises. The second season was dubbed “Ex-Wives Club” and it featured the former housewives on a getaway to Dorinda Medley’s Blue Stone Manor in Massachusetts.
The suit states that Vega was hired as the butler for the show and “it was Ms. Glanville who on RHUGT in the Berkshires sexually harassed and abused MARCO VEGA.”
“Defendants had overwhelming prior notice of Ms. GLANVILLE’s prior deviant sexual proclivities and sexually harassing conduct,” reads the suit. “However, despite this knowledge, Defendants wrongfully continued to hire GLANVILLE for their shows. Defendants allowed, condoned and even encouraged Ms. GLANVILLE’s sexually aggressive and offensive conduct on others on the sets.”
Vega’s lawsuit says that Glanville should have never been hired “because they knew of her
tendency to sexually harass others.” The filing claims producers “encouraged” Glanville “to become drunk on the set so that she would be more likely to commit outrageous and harassing acts.”
Additionally, the suit states, “Defendants further encouraged other housewives such as Phaedra Parks and others to become inebriated and sexually harass others. As a result of Defendants’ actions and inactions, Ms. GLANVILLE and Phaedra Parks sexually abused and harassed MARCO VEGA causing him
emotional distress and other damages.”
The lawsuit against Bravo comes after former Real Housewives star Bethenny Frankel lawyered up to start a movement for reality stars to unionize amid the SAG-AFTRA strike. One of the reasons why many reality stars didn’t report misconduct was due to them signing NDAs but NBCUniversal says the contracts have never stopped participants from talking about the illegal activities.
Vega naming Glanville and Parks in the suit over sexual assault claims, comes as they both have faced similar allegations in the past. Glanville returned to RHUGT for Season 4 but led to an early exit after sexual assault claims from co-star Caroline Manzo during filming.
Glanville would later blame producers of the show and said she felt set up by them tweeting, “I was hired for a 2nd season of girls trip cuz they LOVED what I did on 1st season I was told to bring the party just like before & that’s exactly what I did & I was punished for it. It feels like a fucking set up. It’s BS & Caroline was fine.”
The season of RHUGT was supposed to air this year but was ultimately postponed until sometime in 2024 and swapped with RHONY Legacy.
Parks was a cast member on The Real Housewives of Atlanta between Season 3 and 9. The lawyer was dropped ahead of Season 10 after it was revealed she was behind a rumor that suggested her co-star Kandi Burruss and husband Todd Tucker wanted to drug Porsha Williams to take advantage of her sexually. Parks’ return to the Real Housewives universe was with the second season of RHUGT and is now a cast member of Married to Medicine Season 10.