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Andy Cohen has filed to dismiss Leah McSweeney’s lawsuit, which alleges that Bravo engages in toxic workplace culture and discrimination.
In court documents obtained by PEOPLE, the Bravo boss has asked a judge to dismiss the Real Housewives of New York alum’s claims that she faced “sex/gender, religious, and disability discrimination in a hostile work environment” during her time on Bravo.
The filing states that Leah McSweeney’s allegations are “threadbare” and should be “dismissed as a matter of law.” The Watch What Happens Live host also claims that the reality star’s discrimination allegations “impermissibly seek to abridge Defendants’ First Amendment rights to tailor and adjust the messages they wish to convey in their creative works, including through cast selection and other creative decisions.”
“’Whatever messages’ Defendants ‘communicate or intended to communicate’ with their shows is protected by the First Amendment,” the document continues. “Judicial intervention into casting decisions for expressive works “impermissibly regulate[s] [Defendants’] right to alter the content of the story [they] tell —or choose not to tell.”
In response to Andy Cohen’s legal filing, Leah’s attorney shared a statement with PEOPLE.
“We do not agree that the motion has merit — it mostly argues for dismissal on technical grounds essentially saying that Defendants were allowed to discriminate against Ms. McSweeney — not that they did not do it,” lawyer Sarah Matz said in a statement on Leah’s behalf. “To agree with the Defendants would be to essentially say that the creative industries are not subject to anti-discrimination and anti-retaliation laws and that networks could engage in discrimination and retaliation with impunity, which is not the law.”
In February, Leah McSweeney filed a lawsuit against Bravo and Andy Cohen for intentionally preying on her alcohol addiction so they could hit the ratings jackpot.
The lawsuit claims that Bravo, Shed Media, and Andy Cohen “discriminated against, tormented, demoralized, demeaned, harassed and retaliated against Ms. McSweeney because she is a woman with disabilities, such as alcohol use disorder and various mental health disorders, all in the name of selling drama. But being in the business of reality television does not relieve [them] of their obligation to follow employment laws that prohibit the exact type of discrimination, hostile work environment, and retaliation that Defendants subjected Ms. McSweeney to. Now, Ms. McSweeney seeks justice.”
In her filing, Leah McSweeney also alleged that Andy Cohen “snorts cocaine” with Housewives.
Andy’s attorneys have denied the allegations of the Real Housewives of New York alum.
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