By Jenni FinkShareNewsweek is a Trust Project memberSummer House’s Ciara Miller defended Southern Charm’s Venita Aspen against criticism she’s getting amid the new season of the show, saying that Black women are held to different standards than their white costars.
The newest season of Southern Charm kicked off with the fallout of Aspen and costar Craig Conover’s friendship. Conover said he is no longer friends with Aspen because she texted his ex-girlfriend, Paige DeSorbo, after their breakup.
Aspen defended her taking DeSorbo’s side because she said they were closer friends than she was with Conover.
In the season premiere, Aspen is urged to be the “bigger person” and talk things out with Conover at a baby shower for their castmate, Madison Lecroy. Aspen told the rest of the cast she feels like she always has to be the bigger person and is tired of it.
Miller wrote on TikTok that Black women “must always be the bigger person in every situation wronged or not.” She added that they're held to “such an insanely high standard” and are given less grace. Meanwhile, she said, their white castmates can be “as diabolical and disgusting and still remain fan favorites.”
“Imagine being the only black girl on a predominately white cast in the SOUTH,” Miller wrote in her comment. “And her cast only expects her to be submissive to their opinions and limelight.”
Newsweek reached out to Aspen via email for comment but did not receive a response in time for publication.
Bravo’s faced some criticism over the years for not having diverse enough casts, and Aspen’s the only Black cast member on her show. Summer House is a little more diverse, with several Black cast members on the show over the years, and the cast had a conversation about race when one of the cast members was struggling.
During the sixth season, Miller and Mya Allen shared their experience spending the summer in the Hamptons, a predominantly white area. Allen also opened up about how difficult it was to be confused with Miller by another cast member, something they didn’t see happening with their white castmates.
...Miller wrote in her comment on TikTok that white cast members don’t get a quarter of “the hate that we get simple [sic] for existing” and criticized Conover for not wanting to film with Aspen. Conover hasn’t said he won’t film with her, but in Marc,h he said he doesn’t want to be “associated with her.”
In March, Conover told Andy Cohen on Watch What Happens Live that he was not friends with Aspen anymore and didn’t want to be around her. He criticized Aspen for saying he was reveling in the attention from his breakup with DeSorbo. Some took this as him not wanting to film with Aspen, and Miller said it’s “code for trying to push them out.”
The two filmed the newest season together, and it appears their feud is going to be central to the plotline. During the season premiere, Aspen criticized Conover for being petty by publicly declaring, “I don’t like her,” at the party, and said it would have been different if he had asked her to talk privately.
The cast tried to get Conover and Aspen to squash their issues, and the storyline carried over into the second episode. Cast member Salley Carson told Aspen that she invited Conover to her party, saying she “forgot” the two “had beef,” and that she thinks Conover is attractive. Cast member Rodrigo Reyes told Aspen that he predicted Carson would slowly choose Conover over her. While Aspen disagreed at first, at the end of the episode, she told Reyes that she thinks Carson will “teeter toward” Conover.
“I thought that Salley actually meant it when she said she would put our friendship first, but she doesn’t know what being a girl's girl actually means,” Aspen said during a confessional.
Aspen took a lot of criticism for her behavior during last season, and the plotline of this season lends itself to an “Aspen vs. Several cast members” type of situation. Miller noted that the audience members who are criticizing Aspen need to bring “ample reasons” and compare her to their favorite white cast members, as well.
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