“The Real Housewives of Beverly Hill” star Diana Jenkins wants to clear her name in connection to the “racist and threatening” online abuse directed at the 14-year-old son of her castmate Garcelle Beauvais.
In a new lawsuit filed Thursday and obtained by Rolling Stone, Jenkins goes after a John Doe defendant with claims the unidentified troll orchestrated a “morally bankrupt” and “hateful campaign” in which online bots were used to target one of the twins that Beauvais shares with her ex Michael Nilson.
She claims the unidentified troll purposefully framed her for the “heinous” messages – a storyline she says people have been willing to believe due to her “heated” onscreen exchanges with Beauvais on the hit Bravo show.
“Defendant designed the ‘bot’ attack to create the false impression that it was Ms. Jenkins who orchestrated the attack on Ms. Beauvais’ son,” the complaint filed in Los Angeles states.
“This action is the only way Ms. Jenkins has to fight back against the anonymous coward who decided to put her reputation, livelihood and life in jeopardy,” the documents read. “Ms. Jenkins seeks to put an end to this conduct for herself, her family, and Ms. Beauvais’ son. Someone needs to stand up to bad people.”
The civil lawsuit includes screenshots of several online messages that attacked Beauvais’ son and mentioned Jenkins by name. Jenkins hopes the action will help her “unmask and hold accountable the morally bankrupt person who has attacked a child and placed blame for his/her actions on Ms. Jenkins,” her filing reads.
In a statement, Jenkins’ lawyers Krista M. Enns and J. Erik Connolly from the law firm Benesch, Friedlander, Coplan & Aronoff LLP, say they plan to subpoena Meta, the owner of Instagram, to obtain information about the alleged mastermind behind the bot attack.
Beauvais previously addressed the hateful posts, saying they caused her and her family great distress.
“I’m usually a very strong woman I’ve been raised to be strong my life has taught me to be strong but when it comes to my kids! It hurts it’s not OK I’ve been in tears all night it’s just a TV show people scream at your TV throw something at your TV but leave our kids alone,” she wrote in an Instagram message posted Aug. 23.
She also shared a message from her teen son in which he asked to be left out of the show’s “drama.”
“I am still a kid and wish to not be viewed as a fully matured adult, because I am not one,” his statement read.
“I just want to be a normal kid,” he continued, and “middle-aged women spamming me with racist and crude comments about my family is not what I expected for my first week of high school.”
Bravo posted its own message of support: “We are all shocked and appalled at the social comments directed at Garcelle’s son. We urge our viewers and social followers alike to refrain from targeting our case and their families with harmful rhetoric.”