Diana Jenkins sues 'bots' for framing her for sending racist messages to 'RHOBH' co-star Garcelle Beauvais's son Jax
BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA: Diana Jenkins, star of 'The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills,' seeks to clear her reputation in connection with "racist and threatening" internet comments aimed at her castmate Garcelle Beauvais' 14-year-old son Jax. In a new complaint filed on Thursday, September 8, Diana accuses an anonymous troll of orchestrating a "morally bankrupt" and "hateful campaign" in which internet bots were deployed to attack one of the twins Garcella shares with her ex Michael Nilson.
Diana filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court, claiming that, despite her on-screen conflict with Garcelle, she would never send cruel texts to Jax. She, on the other hand, alleges is a victim of a malicious operation to blame her for the messages, which she claims were delivered by internet bots. She filed the complaint against unnamed defendants, identified in the petition as "John Roes" and "John Does," since she does not know who was behind the campaign against Garcelle and her son. To prevent losing their rights under the statute of limitations, civil attorneys advise starting suit in internet defamation cases even before the defendant is recognized.
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"Dozens, if not hundreds, of people have posted messages attacking Ms. Jenkins for an act that she never took," Diana's attorneys said in the case, which Page Six acquired. "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." It was previously reported that Diana had to employ "24/7" security due to purported death threats from 'Real Housewives of Beverly Hills' fans.
"Someone who posts racist and threatening messages to a fourteen-year-old is morally bankrupt. But, Defendant was not content with attacking an innocent child. Defendant ensured that the profile and content of the postings would lead people to conclude that Ms. Jenkins was the one who had purchased the bots used in the attack," according to the suit. "That conduct too is in the realm of the morally bankrupt," it continues.
Diana argues that her clashes with Garcella, a Black woman, on the hit Bravo show's 12th season were courteous and that she would never cross the line into bigotry. However, Diana maintains that the racist tweets sent toward Garcella's son constantly told her to "leave Diana alone," leading amateur internet sleuths to suspect she was responsible for the teen's attack.
“Defendant intentionally created the content of the messages to reference Ms. Jenkins, ostensibly support Ms. Jenkins, and state that Ms. Jenkins should be left alone. Framing the content of the bot messages in this manner predictably led people to believe that Ms. Jenkins was using the bots to send a warning to Ms. Beauvais,” the lawsuit states. The complaint contains links to tweets that indicate the notion that she was to blame. It also cites an article written by Jeroslyn Johnson for ScreenRant in which the author summarizes the arguments made by various fans claiming Diana was the perpetrator of the attacks, as well as a post by Avigail Landreneau at 'All About the Tea' that lists allegations made against Diana on Twitter.
According to a press release received by Page Six, Diana's attorneys want to issue subpoenas to Meta, Instagram's parent company, to "obtain information that could be used to identify those persons who orchestrated the act."
What led to the fight between the housewives on-screen?
Erika Jayne Girardi shouted at Jax during his mother's birthday celebration in Episode 8 of the current season. As the festivities were winding down, viewers watched Jax try to recover a flower centerpiece, leading Erika to exclaim "get the f**k out," prompting Garcella to question Erika if she had a drinking issue. Erika revealed that she had been combining her prescription drugs with alcohol and had not figured out how to reconcile her therapy with her drinking. In Episode 9, she apologized to Garcella for her conduct.
Erika later accused Garcella of being concerned in order to appear more worried on television. Diana and Garcella had an argument at the party, where the incident happened because Diana made remarks about Garcella's close friend and costar Sutton Stracke. Some speculated that Diana was the source of Jax's bot assaults. On August 26, she denied the allegations in an Instagram post. In August, Jax said on Instagram that he received hostile messages from viewers who were furious with Garcella for her feuds on 'RHOBH' with Diana, Erika Jayne, and Lisa Rinna, as well as turmoil off the show over an "uneducated" statement Diana made about a black content creator.
"I'm a f*****g 14 year old leave me alone please," the teenager captioned a video showing a torrent of racist comments from fans, including one that read, "You’d have your neck kneeled on if it weren’t for your white daddy, [Michael Nilon]. Tell your mom to leave Diana alone or you’ll deal with us.”
Diana, along with Erika, Lisa, and other 'RHOBH' cast members, shared a Bravo statement condemning the social media remarks directed towards Jax. Bravo published a statement condemning the bots' abusive comments, and other housewives from other franchises expressed their support for Garcelle and her family.
For her part, the Bosnian-born businesswoman posted an extra statement in which she expressed her "appalled" reaction to the remarks, adding, "No one should be treated this way, especially children. Sadly, this was not the first time RHOBH children have been attacked. This has to stop. Leave our kids alone.”
'The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills' airs new episodes every Wednesday at 8 pm ET on Bravo.