In an effort to keep that money train going–her words, not mine–Basketball Wives star Evelyn Lozada dishes to VH1 about her cast mate Meeka Claxton, being a villain on the show, and her now settled feud with Tami Roman plus the update on her Non-factor tshirts. Check out excerpts of her interview below, followed by head b*tch in charge Shaunie O’Neal’s thoughts on Meeka and her potential return next season.
Do you ever worry that people see you as a villain on this show?
You need to have a really thick skin to be on this show. I know Suzie can’t even watch the show after we’re done taping because she can’t take it, but you have to get used to that and expect that people will label you. I think people take me being honest and straightforward as me being a bitch but I don’t see anything wrong with that. I’d rather be a villain than a sweet girl, that’s not me.
Honesty is such a big issue on the show.
Everyone’s not honest though. That’s why there’s problems with certain cast members. They aren’t honest and they create drama and lies. That’s why there’s the drama we have on the show. Meeka running around and talking about everybody, it got her in a mess. Meeka just came on as a fan of the show, she sent her picture in, she really wanted to be on the show, the producers didn’t search for her. She tried so hard to fit in instead of just being herself and that’s where things backfired.
You never had direct drama with her, that we saw anyway. Was there any more to your relationship?
After watching the show and seeing certain comments that she made like “I felt that they wanted me to choose sides,” it pisses me off because we made it very clear when we first met and it was on film, “Make your own opinions.” We told her how we feel but base your own opinions. But during filming, I told her to her face, “I don’t like you and I don’t hate you. I feel nothing toward you.” She hasn’t done anything to me directly, it’s just that, why would she say that? And this bullsh*t lawsuit she has with Tami, I think it’s ridiculous.
Even before the fight episode aired, Tami had been saying that Meeka was not a victim and that, you know, she raised her hand up and all that. From what you saw, is that what happened?
Look, this is my thing, everybody handles things differently and as anybody knows, Tami has a temper and especially if you’re lying about her and Meeka was twisting around Tami’s words and it’s kind of…maybe you wouldn’t handle the situation that way but when you’re talking about Tami…
Did you ever think Tami’s lawsuit against you would happen?
No, I thought it was ridiculous. I continued to sell the shirts and I’m still selling them.
So what’s the deal with that, didn’t you max out at your 500 shirts?
You know what, I could probably guess that I sold more than 500 but I didn’t look at my quarterly numbers. I didn’t want to come here lying, so I just chose not to know. I didn’t check.
Don’t you worry about breaking your word with Tami? What if she’s upset that you went over that limit?
I’d say that everyone’s here to make money, everyone signs on to this show for a reason, to promote something, so this opportunity came to me, it was a topic of conversation on the show, and I would be an idiot not to profit from it. Listen, it’s a recession!
What does Chad think about Jennifer’s comments about him?
Chad doesn’t really care about anything. We ran into her at the movie theater and they didn’t talk and that made me very uncomfortable, so obviously the fact that he hasn’t said anything says a lot. I feel like I’m in the middle. And it stems from the interview.
Do you ever watch the show and regret anything or wish the fights didn’t happen?
I think everyone does. But you’re forced to deal with things you normally wouldn’t deal with. So you’re already going into filming pissed and and then things happen and it just builds and builds and builds and things happen…We really are nice people though, I swear.
Also adding her two cents about Meeka is ringleader producer Shaunie O’Neal. Of her costar, Shaunie says, “I didn’t spend a lot of time with her, I experienced her on a few occasions, but the most time I spent with her was in Rome and that’s when I figured out that she was a little sketchy…but I still gave her the benefit of the doubt.” However, it was that fateful trip to Italy when Shaunie realized that their friendship wasn’t going to work.
She continues, “I knew she was not going to mesh with any of us. I just don’t find her to be an honest person at all and I think her intentions, I don’t know exactly what they were. We have a mutual friend outside the show who let me know that she wanted to come on and be this star and shine, but the way she chose to do it, not so much. All of us could probably take a vote right now and never want to see Meeka again and that’d be just fine.”
As for a potential season four of the show, Shaunie admits that she’d be just fine if Meeka didn’t return. Um, doesn’t she have control over that? Of course, since Shaunie just simply hates drama (eyes rolling), I’m betting we’ll see Meeka at least a little bit next season.
THOUGHTS ON EVELYN AND SHAUNIE’S COMMENTS ABOUT MEEKA? SURPRISED EVELYN IS STILL MAKING THE NON FACTOR T-SHIRTS? DO YOU WANT MEEKA WILL RETURN FOR SEASON FOUR?
