CLICK HERE to read my Part 2 recap of the Basketball Wives Reunion.
To start the show off, we have clips from each of the women, from backstage, stating what their expectations are.
Royce: It can be a mess. I’m prepared for anything.
Kesha: I hope everyone can conduct themselves as ladies.
Kenya: (cheesing it up with wild eyes) I don’t know what to expect, this is my first time doing this!
Suzie: I am just expecting pure chaos.
Evelyn: I don’t know what to expect.
Tami: What you want to happen and what will probably happen are two different things. To be honest, I’ve been dreading this day.
Jennifer: I know there is going to be drama. I’m not excited about that. I want to be drama free.
Host John Salley is back to host the fourth season, Basketball Wives reunion. He welcomes us to a, “high speed chase down memory lane,” and goes around introducing each of the women, minus Jennifer. Shaunie gets the most applause. She must have her handlers in the audience “padding” them.
John explains that Jennifer is backstage, and would join them later. They have her up on a screen and he speaks to her briefly.
John starts things off with Evelyn. He hints at a surprise, to be revealed later in the show, suggesting the audience will be surprised. He goes on to express his shock at the level of animosity between Evelyn and Jennifer and wants to know if she thought that they would be able to clear things up during the reunion. Evelyn says that they have had plenty of time to resolve it, and it has not been resolved so far and probably won’t be.
John asks how Evelyn feels that Jennifer is backstage, and not on stage with them. Evelyn thinks that is best because a lot is going on, legally, and it has just become “something big.” She says that she and Jennifer will never be friends again.
John mentions the controversy surrounding this season, specifically in regards to the violence and Shaunie. Shaunie says that it has been a personal struggle for her since she is not one to fight. Not that she is perfect or anything. She admits to getting “out of character” at times, and seeing aspects of herself that she does not like.
Sidebar: Shaunie is a producer and she always seems hyperaware of how she appears on camera. It is like when someone decides to record a conversation with someone else without his or her knowledge. The person they speak to are candid and honest, while the person making the recording is reserved and measured. That is Shaunie.
Shaunie went on to say this season was bananas, and that there was more bad than good. Although there were mostly bad moments, there were also good moments such as Tami and Evelyn going to get their mammograms and her daughter’s birthday party. She acknowledges that the show needs more of a balance, with the good and bad, and “now” everyone is on the same page in that regards. To me, she made it sound as if she always wanted this balance, but no one else was on that page with her until this year when they received the negative backlash. At any rate, Shaunie says that they now have their act together. Amazing how that happened overnight.
Next, we are shown a video montage of Kesha and Kenya’s integration into the crew. We see Suzie and Evelyn watching Kenya’s horrible YouTube video; Kesha telling Kenya that she is not ready for Beyonce status, and how she does not want to be part of something that isn’t going to be done right; and, the confrontation between Kesha and Kenya (hosted by Evelyn and Tami) where Kenya pretended she was going to kick Kesha’s ass, and Kesha ran off.
John jokes that Kesha is fast and then asks Kenya if she feels that she is starting her singing career too late in life, and if she thinks it is realistic. Of course, she does. She says there are no limits on dreams. The age you are, the stage you are in life, does not determine what you can and cannot do. (Although I agree that there are exceptions to the rule; Kenya is not that exception. She has no discernible talent that I can see.) John asks Kesha if she has any words of wisdom to bestow upon Kenya at this point. Kesha and Kenya both say no. We all know that Kenya does not like hearing the truth!
It is Tami and Kesha’s turn and we are shown clips of Tami asking if Kesha is white; Kesha’s subsequent conversation with Evelyn 
regarding how she felt about the way that Tami asked her that; the Bitch, Bitch, and more Bitch dinner (with Kenya laughing like a cracked out hyena); Kesha’s “I could have said” clip; the clip of Tami going off on Kesha in Tahiti; and a clip with Kesha saying that she could see humanity in Evelyn and Shaunie, but there was nothing human about Tami. She says that Tami could not be nice, even if she was swimming in a pool of sugar.
After the video montage is over, John asked Tami what got her going about Kesha. Tami directed her comments towards Kesha and said that if she has something to say to her, she is open to hearing it. She went on to say that Kesha made things ugly between them with the way that she took her comments. John wants to know if it would have made a difference if Kesha would have went directly to her. Tami claims that it would have made a difference. We all know that you cannot prove a negative, but we can find at least one example with someone going directly to Tami, and Tami still being sour about it and wanting to end the friendship– Royce!
Tami went on to say “my bad” regarding the “stuff” in Tahiti. She acknowledges that she was disrespectful and that she should not have gone off in that manner, that she should have been able to articulate herself the way that she was articulating herself in that moment. However, she is still not apologizing for her blatant hypocrisy for her message – that Kesha only talks about Tami to Tami.
John makes a comment about Tami’s anger management working; and I laughed. Does anyone think that this is anything more than an act from Tami? It was John’s way to segue into the clips with Tami at her therapy sessions. John asks Tami if she thinks therapy is working. Tami says yes and that she is trying to deal with some deep-rooted things, but she is not trying to make excuses for her behavior because she takes responsibility for it, apologizing again for doing the wrong thing in Tahiti.
Now, we are moving on to Kenya’s comment about Evelyn being loose. We see the clip, with Kesha telling Evelyn what Kenya said; then the clip where Sakara cosigns Kesha; and clip of the bottle-throwing incident at dinner.
John asked Evelyn if she felt that she went too far with throwing the bottle.
Cue the violins.
Evelyn said, absolutely, it was the wrong thing to do. She said that if there was one moment in life that she could take back, it would be that one. (Really? Not that tragic glittering lime eyeshadow?)
Why you crying, though? John wants to know. Evelyn said that it’s because she’s not proud of that moment. She recounts a time that she was driving in the car with her stepdaughters and how they thought it was funny. “It’s not funny,” she says, “I need to set a better example.” But, WILL you set a better example? That is the question.
John offers her some tissue. Evelyn gave him that, “What, you mean for these fake tears?” look and said no.
The separation of Mean and Evil (Jennifer and Evelyn) is the next topic of discussion. We see a clip of their first argument of season 4, where Evelyn confronted Jennifer about the blog that Jen claims she did not write. Then we see the clip of Shaunie’s birthday party, when Evelyn hit Jennifer with her bag.
Before bringing Jen out, John asks Evelyn what happened and if it was really the blog that started it all. Evelyn said it started with the interview that Jennifer did. She went on to say that she is loyal to her friends and that she never talks about Jennifer’s business when giving interviews because it is not her place. “You’re my girl, I have your back. She didn’t respect me.”
John then asks Shaunie if she regretted inviting both Evelyn and Shaunie to her birthday dinner. She said she didn’t because she let them know that each would be there.
Now it’s time to see the Jennifer and Nia confrontation and “fight.” John wants to know if any of the women saw that coming, they all said no. Shaunie says it was a lot of tension, but they didn’t think it would escalate to that point.
John asks Evelyn why she felt the need to jump across the table like and “pop off.”
Evelyn, “Jennifer has the world thinking that Nia is just my assistance. Nia and Jen were friends, when Jen’s accounts were frozen; Nia
let her stay with her.” She mentions that, even though Jen made the comment about Nia not having anything, she was still suing her and it’s for attention. She says that Jen waited for the show to air before filed charges. (This does not seem possible considering we see her telling Kenya that she, “do what the white people do,” and got her lawyers on it; and, we saw Evelyn reading the police report to Tami.)
Jennifer makes her dramatic entrance to join the rest of the cast. She has bodyguards nearby, you know, just in case. We see Evelyn “calming her nerves” and taking a deep breath as Jennifer takes her seat.
John asks Jennifer if it feels strange keeping her distance from the group. Jen said no, and that it is what it is. At which point the audience reacted in a very over the top way. It was so over the top that I have to say that that was not their reaction to what she said, at all.
Jennifer wants to set the record straight about Nia. She says that they stayed at each other’s homes, that when Nia was in Miami, she stayed at Jennifer’s place, and when Jen was in New York, she stayed at Nia’s place. She goes on to say that if she really needed somewhere to stay, she could have lived with her mother. With this bit of context, Evelyn chimes in to say that, since Jennifer did not have a car at the time, she stayed with Nia so they could go out during the week. Now, didn’t Evelyn and Nia act as if Jennifer would have been on the streets, dumpster diving and shopping at the Goodwill, if it were not for Nia being there to play captain save-a-ho?
John makes an ignorant comment about Harlem being nice now, since white people live there. Seriously, I have lived in nice, low/no-crime BLACK neighborhoods all of my life. (I’m 33) It annoys me when people imply that black people can’t live in places like this – especially when it’s OTHER black people. But, I digress.
Jennifer claims that she does not have an issue with Nia, but it was her right to file the police report. She corrected Evelyn, saying that she filed the police report the same day and met with the state’s attorney’s office. She says that her lawyers could attest to that. Jennifer does concede that it was below the belt to go in on Nia about her financial status, but after she got smacked she was upset and said those things in anger.
To me, John has been hostile with Jennifer the entire time she has been out there. I get the sense that he really does not like her and when he questioned her about why she didn’t file a report against Eric, he sort of confirmed it for me. John pretty much calls Jen a hypocrite and says that it was a double standard, that she did not go after Eric in the way that she is going after Nia, legally speaking. Jennifer says that Eric threw a drink at her, and pretty much it wasn’t the same thing. John says that the glass hit Jen’s chin, which I don’t recall seeing. Clearly, Eric’s intent wasn’t to hit her, however. His intent was to look like a little bitch in front of millions of viewers humiliate Jen, but not physically fight her in the way that Nia wanted to physically fight her. In the end, Jennifer says that it is because Eric is her husband.
It’s time for Tami to jump in with her unsolicited advice.
“I just want you to be consistent and be an advocate for things all the way through. I have witnessed you bully Ashley Walker and she didn’t come back after that. And, now, you are saying you don’t want to be bullied. Acknowledge and admit what you’ve been a part of.”
Seriously? Is this Tami talking? Did I fall down and bump my head? Did someone shoot me up with crack? Meth? Whiteout?
Jennifer said that she doesn’t feel as if she bullied Ashley.
No, for real for real, am I fucking hallucinating? Tami is sitting there trying to explain bullying to Jennifer. She is saying that, since Jennifer “intimidated” Ashley, it was a form of bullying.
Jennifer reiterates that she didn’t consider it bullying and that she doesn’t feel like she was being intimidating. All of the women, who were there at the time, including Royce, said that Ashley was intimidated. Shaunie jumps in to say that Jennifer never apologizes for the things that she does. John asks Jennifer if she could say sorry for the blog. Jennifer gave one of those, “if I hurt you,” apologies that I never take seriously, but she managed to get the crowd to give her an applause anyway.
Jennifer goes on to say that she doesn’t apologize for progressing in life and Shaunie says that they all want to see each other grow, whether it is with Jennifer’s lip gloss line, or Tami’s failed, nonstarter hair weave line. Shaunie whines about how hard it is to remain friends, while being on a reality show, because you have to be so careful about what you say hurting someone’s feelings. She says that she thinks being on the show is what ruined Jennifer and Evelyn’s friendship. John said he disagreed, that it would have happened without the show because he does not go two days without talking to his best friend. Jennifer and Evelyn went months at a time without talking. Does anyone really care what John does?
Jennifer tries to explain her withdrawal from the group, saying that dealing with her divorce to Eric was a new situation for her. She said she took a step back from everyone because she had to deal with many things. Like, figuring out how to change a light bulb and how she was going to earn a living. She said that she did try to call Evelyn, and emailed her a few times, but she never responded.
Evelyn says that, back when Jennifer and Nia were still friends, Nia told Jennifer that Evelyn had a problem with her and the time that she reached out to Jennifer, Jennifer said she was busy. They were forced to talk about what was going on, for the show, which is why they ended up discussing it.
So, the big surprise ended up being that Evelyn took a polygraph test. John tells Jennifer she is next, and Jen says that she is game. We won’t know the results until next week.
I watched the clip for part 2 of the reunion, but was done when I saw the same Tami, who told Jennifer earlier that she was bullying Ashley because she was intimidating her, go in on Kesha saying that Kesha “felt she was bullied because she doesn’t know how to speak up for herself.”
People can keep thinking that Tami is actually changing, but I have yet to see any such evidence. Going on the Wendy Williams show and trying to squeeze out of couple of tears, and talking a good game, doesn’t mean that she has changed.
Well, that’s it for this recap. I hope you enjoyed it.
See you next week!
Something Extra:
Kenya Bell released a “diss record” today, and I am sure that it is purely a coincidence that she did so the day of the much-awaited Basketball Wives reunion. The song, produced by Jazze Pha, is entitled, “Hate Me.” It is heavily auto-tuned and is nothing special. I tried listening to it once to get the gist of the lyrics, but it was extremely difficult. Listen at your own risk!
Here is what I managed to grab of the lyrics:
“I can’t stand that ho,” repeated over and over and over again
“When I pull up in my whip it’s like a video.”
“Them bitches hate me, they make me famous though.”
“If you think you can stop me then yous a silly ho.”
Bitch.Stop
This song is a repetitive, hot mess. The fact that they had to auto-tune her vocals to within an inch of its life displays that she cannot sing. The lack of creative lyrics displays that she cannot write. Her YouTube video displays that she cannot dance. Her tired, cheap wet and wavy weave displays that she cannot style her hair. The fact that she failed to mention one woman directly, or even indirectly, displays that she doesn’t know how to do a “diss record.” Can someone please tell me? Just tell me, please… Moving on.
TVR 