(EXCLUSIVE) WE tv Hit With $5 Million Defamation Lawsuit Over “Money Power Respect” Show

WE tv Sued For $5 Million Over Reality Show

theJasmineBRAND.com exclusively reports, the star of WE TV’s reality show “Money. Power. Respect.” has filed a $5 million dollar lawsuit against the network, accusing the producers of intentionally misleading her to believe the show would be a respectful & professional portrayal of female attorneys in the music industry — but instead she endured insulting misogynistic behavior, along with lies spread about her stealing money from a former client.

Here’s the backstory: Kelly Shapiro, the star of “Money. Power. Respect.” filed suit against the network accusing them of intentionally defaming her on national television. The reality show focuses on “six high-powered female entertainment attorneys” in the hip hop music industry who “who use the tricks of their legal training to get Money, Power and Respect in their personal & professional lives”.

Shapiro explains when the producers approached her to be a cast member, they intentionally misled her to believe the series would “raise the bar” and highlight the professional lives of women of color in this particular aspect of the legal industry. They promised her that they would not produce a typical reality show and instead sought to portray these women in a respectful, professional and favorable manner.

Instead, she claims after the agreements were signed, they chose to disparage her, painting her in an unethical, unprofessional, embarrassing, and false light in direct contradiction of the terms of the deal.

The star claims she negotiated a clause her in deal that allowed her to object to filming if the scene would cause her to directly violate a rule of professional conduct applicable to her career. She had this provision added to avoid any negative implications or false statements placing her in a negative way which would ruin her professional reputation.

Back in January 2015 – during filming – she invoked the Ethics Clause in her contract to object to one of the first scenes she shot with co-star Kendell Kelly, who began to question her professional ethics during filming. She told producers she did not want to film anymore with Kendell.

However, after filming a handful more episodes, the producers had her film another scene with Kendell in which her co-star accused her of defrauding and stealing money from one of her clients. The court documents state,

Naturally, fraud and theft are expressly prohibited by the attorney ethical rules and such conduct could result in an attorney being disbarred.

She sued for breach of contract demanding $5,000,000 in compensatory damages along with an injunction ordering WE TV to remove and destroy all copies of the defamatory material, along with attorney fees and unspecified punitive damages.

Check out one of the teasers from the show.

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