Nomalanga: Nene Leakes is smarter than we give her credit for

Nene Leakes has reportedly been speaking out about the bullying and fighting that goes on in the reality show, “Basketball Wives”. Leakes, a “wife”, herself in “the Real Housewives of Atlanta” has also been criticized about being too loud and opinionated. It seems that she knows the limit though, because her star seems to be shining very bright. In addition to her role as a “wife”, Leakes also has roles in ‘Glee’ and ‘The New Normal’.

What I noticed about Nene’s comments about “Basketball wives is that she talks about how the women’s behavior can affect the future of their careers. Considering how well Nene’s career is going, I think she has earned some creditability to talk about what it takes to succeed in show business. I’m not saying I agree entirely with Nene’s conduct but I also believe she is much smarter than we give her credit for.

Think about it; one of the challenges that I believe Oprah Winfrey is faced with with her struggling OWN Network is that although she strives to put on only “quality” programming, many say most of it is “boring”. There is a delicate balance between having enough action and drama to keep people interested and engaged and going too far, like Jerry Springer or even ‘Basketball Wives’. On one hand, Oprah keeps her programs decent and dignified but no one is watching and then on the other hand, people are watching shows like ‘Basketball Wives’ but they are disgusted by what they see.

What I’m suggesting is that Nene has struck this balance and I believe she is well aware of it. She doesn’t try to act “nice” in front of the camera and come off as inauthentic and possibly boring but she also doesn’t get into fist fights when she has conflict with someone.

So far, Nene is the only “wife” that Donald Trump has tapped to be on is reality show, ‘The Apprentice’. She is the highest paid “wife” on ‘The Real Housewives of Atlanta’ and she also has roles on two other major shows. I don’t believe that all this success has come Nene’s way by some stroke of luck. I think that Nene is a smart black woman who understands how show business works and while people are sitting around talking about her, she is working on ways to get paid!