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Don’t question Lisa Vanderpump. The “Vanderpump Rules” boss, 59, defended her decision to keep Max Boyens and Brett Caprioni employed at her restaurants after the resurfacing of racist tweets, during the show’s virtual reunion that aired Tuesday. Jax Taylor brought up Boyens’ past racist tweets while defending his decision to hire and fire a homophobic …
Don’t question Lisa Vanderpump.
The “Vanderpump Rules” boss, 59, defended her decision to keep Max Boyens and Brett Caprioni employed at her restaurants after the resurfacing of racist tweets, during the show’s virtual reunion that aired Tuesday.
Jax Taylor brought up Boyens’ past racist tweets while defending his decision to hire and fire a homophobic pastor, telling Tom Sandoval, a minority owner of TomTom, “I don’t understand why you need to make a big production out of it considering what your manager’s done.”
“The only reason why you said s–t is not because you give a f–k about racial equality, it’s to f—ng deflect from your s—t,” Sandoval yelled back before Vanderpump stepped in.
“Firstly, as a 5 percent shareholder, he wouldn’t have the right to terminate his employment,” she asserted. Addressing the rest of the cast she added, “If I fired every one of you that have made mistakes, it doesn’t matter to what degree, probably none of you would have a job.”
She added later on, “I have never seen any inkling of anything that would make me believe that that’s the beliefs they’re holding now,” she said. “And if I had, they wouldn’t be working for me.”
Vanderpump previously condemned their tweets to Page Six in January, saying that she did “not condone any of the heinous comments made in the past.”
“I am glad they understand the severity of their offenses and have shown utmost remorse and contrition,” she added. “I embrace a community of diversity and do not tolerate bigotry of any form within my workplace. Max and Brett are both appropriately ashamed of their past obnoxious teenage arrogance and casual use of unacceptable terms. While both have now matured as adults, they have shown remorse for their prior reckless defamatory statements.”
Boyens previously apologized in January after an old tweet reading “It upsets me that the word n—a is not allowed to be said unless you are black because quite honestly it’s my favorite word” surfaced.
“Theres this girl I see everyday@school, she looks like the girl from the movie precious& I’m not just saying this cuz she’s big and black,” another stated.
A third tweet read, “Something about Asians that just makes me want to punch them in the suck hole.”
“I want to sincerely apologize for what I tweeted in 2012 — it was wrong on every level,” he said in a statement at the time. “It is not a representation of who I am. I am shocked I ever tweeted that — and I am disgusted and embarrassed — I am truly sorry.”
He emphasized his apology during the reunion, adding that his grandfather who “pretty much raised” him is black and his mother is biracial.
“I’m an adult now, and I cringe even thinking that I said those things,” he said. “We live in a generation now where saying some things, even if you are of that culture, is just frowned upon. I just want to say I’m just really, sincerely sorry. I’m not even — there’s no excuse.”
Meanwhile, Caprioni apologized after he used racial slurs on Twitter as well.
“I want to express my deepest apologies for the insensitive, ignorant, and hurtful comments I made,” Caprioni stated. “I am incredibly ashamed and accept full responsibility, and acknowledge that this language was as unacceptable then as it is now. Please know that I have learned and grown since then and would never use this language today. From the bottom of my heart, I am truly sorry.”
He also emphasized his apology and added during reunion, “It wasn’t okay then, it’s not okay now. It’s something I regret deeply, and it was just kind of making jokes with each other, like we’d literally be in the same room and just say stupid s— to each other, and it was a dumb f—ing thing to do. I’m doing my best to move forward and be the best person I can be, and try to emulate that to everybody else.”
The virtual reunion was taped before the death of George Floyd while in police custody and the nationwide protests against racism and police brutality.
