Lisa Vanderpump Opened Up About Stassi & Kristen's Firings From 'Pump Rules'

Bravo announced earlier this year that a handful of Vanderpump Rules stars were not asked to return to the show, following an unearthing of racist and problematic comments and actions. Considering the namesake of the show has been pretty forgiving of her employees in the past, it's perhaps not surprising that in a recent statement, Lisa Vanderpump said she wouldn't have fired Stassi Schroeder and Kristen Doute from Vanderpump Rules if it were up to her. The decision seems to have been made solely by the series' network, Bravo.

In June 2020, Bravo fired Kristen and Stassi following ex-cast member Faith Stowers' recounting of a racist incident her former co-stars in an Instagram live. She described how the pair accused her of a crime she did not commit after they saw a news report about a Black woman wanted for theft. In the same statement announcing Stassi and Kristen would not continue on Pump Rules, the network also let go of Max Boyens and Brett Caprioni, presumably because of their racist tweets that were discovered on their Twitter profiles in January 2020.

Following the firings, Lisa Vanderpump released a statement on June 10 about the situation on her Instagram. In the post, she didn't mention any of the accusations in particular, nor did she mention any of the now-former cast members by name, but she did say she was "saddened" by the "lack of judgement" exhibited by some of her employees.

Though she's remained mostly silent on the matter since, Lisa opened up in an Aug. 12 interview with Entertainment Tonight. "I think it's sad, really, what happened, because I do think that people can learn from their mistakes, and I'm all about that. I think you've seen that on the show" she said, adding: "Of course, we do know that we're in this momentum of really people kind of standing up for what's right, and I'm all about that and embracing that — and I do believe in zero tolerance for that — but I also believe that you can come back from that and you're young and you can learn from it."

Lisa continued the interview saying: "So, if it were up to me, I would like to see them go on, but really have a better understanding of where they went wrong ... I'm not into just kind of getting rid of people because they get it wrong. Otherwise, I'd probably have nobody working for me at this point"

Fans of the show — who have seen arrests, drink-throwing, and physical fighting from cast members in multiple episodes — know there might be some truth in Lisa's statement.