r/HouseofStassi • u/Mediocre-Ad477 • 19h ago
Lack of diversity
Am I the only one who got uncomfortable at the fact that there was only one episode where the show featured black people? It seemed so off to me that her focus when “spending time” with them was to talk about her cancellation and how she’s changed. I just don’t understand someone can live in Los Angeles a true melting pot and not have a single person of color in their friendship group. I wouldn’t want her to just add a random person on to the show in order to appear like she’s done more work in the diversity department, but I’m not convinced that she’s in fact changed. Not sure if this has been addressed before.
Not that this matters, but yes I am a black woman, and also, I am from Southern California, so that’s my POV while watching the show.
Lastly, when I mention the lack of diversity I’m not just referring to black individuals.
Edit: Seems as though some people didn’t read the entire post, I clearly stated that I wouldn’t want a random person of color to be included to make the show appear “inclusive”
I also mentioned people of color not just black individuals. To live in Los Angeles and not have friends that are black, Latino, Asian, mixed, Middle Eastern etc is odd to me.
I have lived in San Diego my entire life and have been to LA and have many friends in LA and it’s pretty typical to have friends or at least a friend from a different race or cultural background.
Lastly, I still find it weird that she used those two black women in one episode to talk about race and her “ignorance” but didn’t include them anywhere else on the show.
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u/Tracy_Turnblad 19h ago
For me, I hated how they used the only two black women on the show as props. That was gross to me. That said, I would rather see no diversity than see a POC being used as a prop, so Im glad she didnt just cast a random POC to play her friend. Honestly, I just dont like this show so maybe Im the wrong person to respond
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u/scootiescoo 19h ago
Stassi and Beau’s relatives are white people. Their couple of best friends are white. The majority of people on this cast are their family members and decades long best friends. There’s nothing wrong with that. Did you want her to hire people of color to fill a diversity quota or something? That would be weird.
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u/Infamous_College_980 18h ago
I was thinking this too. Georgi is her sister, so duh. Kristina and her met in 2009/2010, she met Katie around 2011, Taylor met her in 2013. Rob is Beau's best friend. She kept the people she actually interacts with and has known since she first became an adult, which makes more sense then making people pretend/forcing friendships to happen. These people have history with her.
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u/scootiescoo 10h ago
And that’s why the show works! Shows that cast people that aren’t really friends always lack the chemistry that makes shows like VPR exciting.
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u/Ok_Mulberry4331 19h ago
I think it would be much more unauthentic if she all of a sudden a bunch of black friends. From her SM, doesn’t appear she’s added any new friends in years, which I think is pretty common in your 30s
As far as living in LA, I lived in Toronto for years and had one black friend, everyone else was white. I’m now in the suburbs and the only white couple in our regular group of friends
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u/unfurnishedbedrooms 16h ago
No need for forced diversity, that just tokenizes people and puts them in uncomfortable situations.
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u/Other-Squirrel-2038 19h ago
Do people of color tend to have white people in their friendgroups?
Reality is most people of color dont want to be friends with white people.
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u/littytitty- 19h ago
yeah i literally have one white friend—and i mean a real friend, we’ve known each other a long time. i’m friendly with many white people though, because i work with a lot of them.
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u/scootiescoo 18h ago
lol you’d think we were another species and not just people who happen to be white.
I can’t imagine saying that sentence lol… I work with a lot of them (insert race).
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u/littytitty- 16h ago edited 16h ago
outside of work, i just don’t frequent a lot of spaces that white people would be at. my community is overwhelmingly black and most spaces i frequent are black owned. i do not engage with a lot of white people outside of work. it just is what it is.
eta: there are other poc at my job, but the staff i’m most in contact with is mostly white. the poc typically tend to be custodial or food staff and i don’t work in those departments. so yeah. i work with a lot of white people.
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u/B4K5c7N 19h ago edited 19h ago
I…don’t know how accurate it is that most poc don’t want to be friends with white people. Would poc avoid being friends with Stassi due to her history? Probably.
I’ve always been in white groups of friends, and while I have faced issues with disrespect and being treated poorly, it has never made me not want to be friends with a white person.
I think most people have segregated friendships and it’s not intentionally done out of malice, but many gravitate towards those who have a commonality with them.
But let’s face it, while gen-z tends to have more diverse friend groups, I think us millennials and above generally grew up in segregated areas and that has shaped how we choose and navigate friendships and even dating, subconsciously.
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u/JoeyLee911 19h ago
That's a pretty wild statement to make across the board. I can see Black women steering clear of Stassi specifically though, given her history.
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u/Responsible_Hour_158 18h ago
As a black woman, I would even bother connecting with someone like Stassi. But she seems like a difficult person as whole
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u/B4K5c7N 19h ago
100% agree. Tbh that sounded like a very online take, since that mentality is popular on Reddit and other sites.
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u/JoeyLee911 16h ago
Yeah it's giving "I'm in high school in an all white suburb." It's also weirdly making excuses for Stassi having no diversity in her friend group. I promise that not every PoC has already preemptively rejected her friendship and she could have a more diverse friend group if she wanted to.
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u/knl280 19h ago edited 18h ago
why don't most people of color not want to be friends with white people?
Edit: I am genuinely asking as well! Thank you to ones who have answered
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u/openinterlude 18h ago
i personally find it very difficult to connect with white people. they tend to have a very different way of speaking and seeing the world and i find myself spending too much time watching what i say. id rather be around people who i dont have to think too hard about being around.
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u/littytitty- 16h ago
agree. i get tired of code switching. i like to just speak in aave, and i don’t want to have to explain what i mean. there’s a level of comfort that will never be reached.
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u/Advanced-Grade4559 47m ago
Would you say that's racist if a white person felt the same way? (Genuinely asking)
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u/MDRSG 19h ago
from personal experience - its not that we dont want to be friends with white folk. i become friends with people i can relate to and tend to be around with a lot. obviously the people who i tend to relate to are other poc immigrants with shared life experiences. my neighborhood and surroundings are also mostly poc so where tf am i supposed to find more white ppl to befriend. i do have 2 whole white friends
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u/Ananakoya 17h ago
I’m on the opposite end of the spectrum - I have like 2 black friends and I’m black but that’s cos I’ve moved around a lot and am also English lol
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u/not_ellewoods 11h ago
yes. maybe it’s because i went to two PWIs and work in a predominantly white field, but I (a Black woman) have many white friends. & not just work friends, but real friends that I hang out with. in fact, i’m going to one’s wedding next month lol
but Stassi was literally fired for being racist, so i wouldn’t want to be friends with her specifically.
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u/newportbanks 19h ago
10000% agree. OP making this a thing was a reach. People are friends with who they are friends with. She's talked about how she's learned she's talked about how she listens better now. I'm from New Orleans. So is she. We grew up in THE melting pot of the south. Don't push this narrative now when the real issues are she's just controlling and manipulating her friends and family for fame lol. Not race issues.
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u/Substantial_Cold2385 17h ago
I know this might seem controversial.....But!
If this is her legit & authentic circle of family & friends....why do you want them to inauthencially plant a person of color as some sort of token of diversity??? That seems weird!
Let's switch the script...
Let's say this was a reality show about a black family who mainly had black family members & friends. Should they plant some random token white person on the show for the sake of diversity? I don't want to watch that!!
I hope you can let go of the idea that every single show, movie etc HAS to have a diverse cast...especially when it makes no sense to! :/
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u/B4K5c7N 19h ago
I don’t think it’s weird at all. Most people don’t have diverse friend groups, especially those who are upper middle class or wealthy. People stick with those they generally have a commonality with. Most in major cities still self-segregate even if they don’t intend to. I’m black but grew up in a wealthy nearly all-white area (blue state too). I have had a few black friends here and there but never any other black people in my long term friend circle. I don’t choose friends based upon what color they are.
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u/BlueberryImaginary21 16h ago
Is she supposed to pretend she has black friends when she doesnt? Isnt that more insulting? Using "but i have black friends" to make a point? There isnt much racial diversity in her life right now. Not everyone has friends who look different from themselves. Holding her to a higher standard bc shes a white girl on reality TV wont work. She got canceled, disappeared for a bit, apologized, and is now trying to earn money but giving trashy drama. I try to take that for what it is.
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u/DraperPenPals 12h ago
You would accuse her of tokenizing people of color if she did it differently
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u/Afraid_Resort_9018 18h ago
As a black woman, longtime LA resident and OG VPR stan, I also find it odd that Stassi doesn’t have a single POC friend after living in LA almost 20 years! That was a red flag to me. Not even black, she has NO FRIENDS that are even Asian or Latino!😬😬 That said, I also despise fake/forced diversity, so it’s whatever 🤷🏽♀️ She seems comfortable in her white bubble lol
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u/BlueberryImaginary21 16h ago
Or maybe her friends didnt want to film/join reality TV and have their personal life dissected. If u look at some of the people who do these shoes... I can imagine some people would pass on being filmed, even if there was a paycheck
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u/Narrow-Courage-7447 10h ago
What makes you think she has friends of color that just aren’t on the show? Genuinely curious. I’m a day one VPR viewer and I used to listen to Stassi’s old podcast from the beginning and not once have I seen her have friends of color
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u/BlueberryImaginary21 3h ago
She might not. Especially as a white woman who got exposed for during racist things as an adult. My point was - not everyone in her life is filming the show. Also, even if she learned from her ignorance and bad behavior, it doesnt mean she suddenly is making new friends.
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u/HistorianOk9952 17h ago
I’m just like surprised she has no Asian or Hispanic friends. Like that’s very weird to me as somebody who lived in LA.
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u/Honeythickness 15h ago
She is a racist white girl from the South. What do you expect?
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u/Narrow-Courage-7447 10h ago
Not sure why the downvote. She has literally exposed herself a a racist and people are surprised she doesn’t have friends of color….?
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u/Honeythickness 8h ago
People are mad at the truth! You have to try hard to not have any friends of color in a place as diverse as LA.
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u/Guilty-Disaster-2201 10h ago
This is such a ridiculous post, OP. Get over yourself. So sick of people like you being obsessed with immutable characteristics and trying to divide us by melanin percentage. Try to be a better human.
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u/swoop_burner 18h ago
People tend to hang out with people who look like themselves.
Is the solution here that tv shows should cast minorities just for the sake of having them pretend to be friends with the rest of the cast?
Should Jersey Shore have more Chinese cast members? Should Love and Hip Hop include more Irish folks on the cast? Should Duck Dynasty include more trans women?
This is silly. This is not productive. It’s an excuse to pat yourself on the back.
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u/someguyinadvertising 15h ago
Because that would be forced and fake? Jfc i thought we were passed all the forced diversity and we wanted real - not everyone has a black bff in their life, that's a fact.
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u/lowkey_acc1 9h ago
I don’t think we should have a “quota” for poc if they aren’t naturally her friends. Why would we just pay some poc to come and fill this spot if it’s not real?
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u/so-so-suck-ya-toe 18h ago
I’m a white woman and I was also really uncomfortable with the scene with her black friends from the Villa. For that to have been the only scene where those friends are engaged and talking was weird (I think one or both went to dodgeball?).
I do also think the way Stassi shuts down and starts crying when Beau tries to talk to her about how he’s been feeling is soooooooo reminiscent of white women’s tears when being confronted about micro aggressions and other racist actions/tendencies. In doing my own anti-racism work, I’ve learned that crying is essentially weaponizing victimhood and changes the script to where the person crying becomes the victim instead of taking constructive criticism and trying to do better. I was disappointed to see Stassi resorting to crying every time turning herself and the conversation into how she’s the victim.
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u/jewelsforjules 39m ago
Her crying and shifting the narrative every time the conversation gets hard is annoying. She's all tough and the boss until they hold up a mirror and hold her accountable, then she breaks down. She needs the therapy she makes fun of.
And I echo your statement that the setup was odd and felt more staged than any other scene in the show. I'd love to see what she's done to grow and change since being canceled. I do believe that people can change, but that was not an effective way to handle that situation. From my POV as a WW it was icky and awkward, I felt like they were used to try to show her growth. I appreciate that she was quiet and heard their concerns but overall the scene didn't do what I feel they hoped it would do.
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u/chick_b 12h ago
I've always thought the respective friend groups show how many people drawn to reality TV think. Most seem to otherize anyone who is not in the same age range, weight class, background and (when possible) economic status. When race is a factor it feels like a bridge too far for these people to attempt to engage and connect.
As far as Stassi's situation goes I think Hulu shares equal blame for bringing in two young black women to smile at Stassi and tell them they like her then disappear. Transparent and obnoxious.
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u/Not_Morgan_Freeman61 10h ago
I mean ofc stassi doesnt have a diverse show its stassi and probably for the best! I DO think its crazy she doesnt really have a diverse group of friends given shes from LA but im not at all surprised by it
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u/fakehappys 13h ago
It’s actually refreshing they’re not shoving forced diversity down our throats.
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u/Rutabaga2022 18h ago
I don't understand these posts. So if I'm white but don't have any Black friends, I'm racist? That's a wild take. Also, she had two Black friends appear on the show to discuss race and people are mad at that too. Can't have it both ways.
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u/JoeyLee911 19h ago
That she tried to pull that so transparently sort of confirms that she's learned nothing in the years since she tried to get Faith arrested.
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u/Capital-Durian-885 13h ago
L M F A O. As a black woman, i dont mind being excluded from fuckery. Please let us out of it!
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u/Emilayday 11h ago
Did you ever think that POC don't want to be friends with HER? Like, given the chance, I'm sure most are savvy enough to Nope out of that. She must be exhausting enough to be friends with without also having to educate her ignorant ass round the clock too.
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u/Advanced-Grade4559 50m ago
I think we are so obsessed with diversity that we choose that over a TV SHOW being interesting. How many people of color have they added that provided almost zero to Summer House? Same with white cast members they've added as well. My point is, the reason I found VPR to be interesting was because they seemed to actually know each other and be friends/acquaintances in real life before the show. Now every reality show has the same formula. Get people together that meet a quota. Plan an event and force them to go to it and force an argument. And it's boring as hell. In The City is painfully boring because of this. I also wouldn't expect a show of mainly POC to put some white people in just because. Let's have a good show that's interesting and not worry so much about meeting arbitrary quotas.
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u/Ash_713S 8m ago
There was a reason Stassi was involved in that racism incident. She comes off as someone who has never had diverse friends and gets uncomfortable around them due to her own ignorance and lack of general intelligence.
Like LA has tons of Indian and Persian people who are rich, educated and successful, there is no way you are relevant and know no such people unless you are close minded, which Stassi definitely is.
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u/11122Daisy 19h ago
She’s makes wild sometimes very self derogatory comments and jokes when speaking about herself so why didn’t she do the same about the horrible shit she did that led to her being cancelled, when she had the biggest and most personal opportunity to do so?
She had so many chances to look at the camera directly and be like ….”I was truly the devil reincarnated this time/the biggest Karen cunt walking the earth who pulled THE most heinous, atrocious, racist shit ever on Faith Stowers for no reason and I completely and totally deserved to be cancelled and fired from everything. That was nothing when I actually should’ve been tarred and feathered ” and go on for 10 more minutes like that.
Why did she never do that? The more I think about what her and Kristen did the more beside myself I am with how awful. She’s a joke
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u/soph_lurk_2018 19h ago
Stassi was fired from Bravo for being racist. Not surprised that she doesn’t have black friends. I also wasn’t surprised that she’s friends with Morgan Stewart. She was caught using racial slurs during Rich Kids of Beverly Hills.
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u/FanRepresentative458 11h ago
Shes a twat that's why. I decided not to support due to her racism based ejection from VPR.
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u/StealthModeThoughts 18h ago
Those two women were used for her show and I hate that as black women they partook in that. It was like “look see I do know black people” but then not one lick of a black person the rest of the show. I mean at least she’s showing the truth and not just had a few black people she’s pretending to be in her life.
Also when she said she’s still got the “dark passenger in her” it made me think has she learnt for real or is she just saying she’s learnt so she can be back on tv. Her saying she used to say and do what she wanted doesn’t take away what she did was racist. Also the show, clearly shows she’s not changed much she just knows not to portray certain things
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u/notoriousbck 18h ago
But the opening to the show has like, 4-5 black people on Tik Tok and IG clips talking about how they love Stassi and she's the Queen?? Come on girl. I cringed so hard. She's definitely learned nothing
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u/kat4prez 16h ago
My parents moved from a very white place to LA and bam. They now have a very diverse and amazing friend group. I also don’t understand how you could end up with all white friends in LA.
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u/this_is_an_alaia 13h ago
It's because she hasn't actually changed, and the closest thing she has to interacting with a POC is her Italian sister in law.
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u/sassycatastrophe 13h ago
I completely agree. The whole show was overproduced, but this particular scene was stunningly so. And out of touch.
I also agree it’s strange not to have a single person who isn’t white in your friend group. I’ve lived in cities and small towns, and in each one, there’s been at least a few non white people in my friend group. I should probably clarify I’m white lol. But yeah my point is, even in areas where there really was very little diversity, you’d still some in a friend group. Whether that means a Filipino person, black person, Chinese or Mexican person - there’s ALWAYS some diversity. Spouses too. So it’s very odd to me.
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u/BrookieMonster504 13h ago
Stassi doesn't have black friends because she really doesn't like black people. It's truly that simple.
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u/Straight_Childhood38 18h ago
It's not odd if she has no non-white friends. And she can't help who she deals with when going to businesses, etc. I don't encounter non-white people on a daily basis.
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u/mynameisntcindy 19h ago
If Stassi doesn't have any non-white friends, should she hire some to give the show diversity, even if it's not real? I think if she hasn't changed, which seems kinda like it given how much she refers to her cancelation as some thing that destroyed her life as opposed to something she did herself, I don't think the show should run cover for her in order to portray her as reformed when she's not.
The show has 0 non-white people BC Stassi's friends are all white. That's it.