[EXCLUSIVE] Carlos King On Seeing Nene Leakes’ Star Power Early, Crediting Oprah Winfrey For Opportunities + Says: ‘I Would Be Further In My Career If I Wasn’t Black’

Carlos King

[EXCLUSIVE] Carlos King On Seeing Nene Leakes’ Star Power Early, Crediting Oprah Winfrey For Opportunities + Says: ‘I Would Be Further In My Career If I Wasn’t Black’

In an exclusive interview with theJasmineBrand, producer Carlos King opened up about his time behind-the-scenes on the hit reality TV show The Real Housewives of Atlanta, including noticing Nene Leakes star quality on season one, wanting to bring on Mariah Huq of Married to Medicine to RHOA and the possible return of former housewife Phaedra Parks.

Carlos King first mentioned how he came to love Nene Leakes after being assigned to work with her during the first season of “RHOA.”

As an associate producer my job was to work with the talent and upon my first day I was told by my boss ‘you are going to be responsible for this woman named Nene Leakes … like that’s going to be the cast member that you’re going to be responsible for’, and I was like cool, okay.

Then, I met Nene Leakes and I fell in love with [her] after two seconds of meeting her, and I told her after we wrapped our first season, I said ‘You need to buckle up because you’re about to be a huge star’. I saw it then, and she was like ‘shut up b**** no I’m not’. I said ‘No, you are gonna be a huge star.’

Nene Leakes

Staying on the subject of Atlanta housewives, we asked Carlos King if he would bring back Phaedra Parks if he was still a part of the hit show. He responded:

“Yes! I think Phaedra is also iconic. Phaedra is a southern belle.”

Phaedra Parks

He added:

“The thing about Phaedra that people love, that I also loved is the fact that she was such a contradiction of herself. She was a church lady who w0re the church hats and she was a southern belle. But she also used to wear the freakiest bikinis when we had the cast trip, like talking about sex and, you know like all of those things that she she had going for herself.”

“It is what kept the audience at the tip of their toes and she’s a dynamic force in this game. I see why the fans want her back, I get it.”

Midway through the interview, King revealed to theJasmineBrand that he once attempted to recruit Mariah Huq to RHOA.

“What a lot of people don’t know is we were looking at Mariah Huq to be an Atlanta housewife during season 4. I remember shooting a scene with Mariah and her sister and Lake for Atlanta housewives. I love Mariah. Mariah said to another producer ‘you know what I want to create my own lane’, and she created Married To Medicine. I wanted Mariah to be Atalanta housewife because I know a star when I see one, and no one reads like Mariah Huq baby, no one.”

Mariah Huq

Despite all of his success in entertainment, King believes that he could further ahead in the industry if his skin color was different, but praises one woman in particular for giving him a shot.

“When you look at the resume that I have, I would be further along in my career if I wasn’t Black, with my resume. I would be as big as a Ryan Murphy, but when you are a black man in this business you have to work twice as hard as we know. I don’t let that slow me down. That’s the reason why at the end of the day I appreciate Oprah Winfrey.”

“Oprah Winfrey has given this black boy an opportunity to work with her and to produce shows for her which is why it infuriates me when people talk about her because she talks the talk and she walks the walk. This black woman, who y’all loved to talk about in a negative light is one of the few people giving black production company shows.”

Oprah Winfrey

Now that he no longer works with the Housewives franchise, if given the opportunity, King says he would love to create a show with singer Tamar Braxton.

“I would love to work with Tamar Braxton. I have been told that she wants to work with me too and we follow each other on Instagram. I think she is an iconic personality and I think she’s one of those few people who you know who brings it. I would love to create a show with her. I love her.”

Watch the full exclusive interview below!

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