‘Real Housewives’ star sues ‘bots’ over racist messages sent to her co-star’s teen son
Diana Jenkins, a star on Bravo’s hit show “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills,” filed a lawsuit Thursday against “bots” she claims targeted her co-star’s 14-year-old son with racist messages, which Jenkins was then blamed for.
Jenkins filed suit in Los Angeles Superior Court arguing that, despite her onscreen feud with Garcelle Beauvais, she would never stoop so low as to send hateful messages to Beauvais’ son Jax.
Instead, Jenkins claims she is the victim of a sinister campaign to frame her for the messages, which she says were sent by online bots.
Because Jenkins does not know who exactly was responsible for the campaign against Beauvais and her son, she filed the lawsuit against unknown defendants, listed as “John Does” and “John Roes” in the filing. Civil lawyers recommend filing suit in online defamation cases even before the defendant is known to avoid losing their rights under the statute of limitations.
“Someone who posts racist and threatening messages to a fourteen-year old is morally bankrupt. But, Defendant was not content with attacking an innocent child. Defendant ensured that the profile and content of the postings would lead people to conclude that Ms. Jenkins was the one who had purchased the bots used in the attack,” the suit says. “That conduct too is in the realm of the morally bankrupt.”
‘Real Housewives’ stars Garcelle Beauvais and Lisa Rinna became unlikely allies when they implored fans to stop attacking their children online.
Jenkins claims that her confrontations with Beauvais, who is Black, in the 12th season of the hit Bravo show are respectful and that she would never cross the line into racism.
But because the racist messages targeting Beauvais’ son repeatedly warned Jenkins’ co-star to “leave Diana alone,” Jenkins claims the messages led amateur internet sleuths to believe she was responsible for the attack on the teen.
“You’d have your neck kneeled on if it weren’t for your white daddy,” said one Twitter post directed at the boy. “Tell your mom to leave Diana alone or you’ll deal with us.”
“Defendant intentionally created the content of the messages to reference Ms. Jenkins, ostensibly support Ms. Jenkins, and state that Ms. Jenkins should be left alone. Framing the content of the bot messages in this manner predictably led people to believe that Ms. Jenkins was using the bots to send a warning to Ms. Beauvais,” the suit says.
Garcelle Beauvais, Crystal Kung Minkoff and Sutton Stracke open up about Erika Jayne, discussing race on reality TV and stocking up on leather pants.
Beauvais took to social media in August to express her displeasure about the campaign targeting her son.
“I’m usually a very strong woman I’ve been raised to be strong my life has taught me to be strong but when it comes to my kids! It hurts it’s not OK,” Beauvais tweeted on Aug. 23. “I’ve been in tears all night.”
Jenkins says in the lawsuit that she too is a victim.
“Ms. Jenkins and her family have been verbally attacked, threatened, and harassed as a result of Defendant’s actions,” the suit says.
Death threats and other hateful messages led Jenkins to hire four, round-the-clock bodyguards to protect her and her family, the lawsuit says.
Beauvais declined to comment when reached by The Times. Jenkins could not immediately be reached through her attorney.
Sign up for Essential California
The most important California stories and recommendations in your inbox every morning.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
