Arts & Entertainment
Vanderpump sued by former employee for failure to pay wages
Weho restauranteur and reality star Lisa Vanderpump is being sued by a former employee for failure to pay wages, Page Six podcast reported on Tuesday.
Vanderpump and husband Ken Todd, the former “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” stars who own the West Hollywood restaurants Tom Tom, SUR, Pump and Villa Blanca, are being accused of failing to pay minimum and overtime wages, failing to provide meal breaks – or compensation in lieu of breaks – and for violating California’s unfair competition law at their various restaurants, according to Los Angeles Superior Court documents obtained by the podcast.
The lawsuit was filed on Dec. 16, 2019, by former employee Adam Pierce Antoine, who worked for Vanderpump and Todd from September to December 24, 2018. Antoine claims that the behavior has gone on for “at least four years prior to the filing,” and hopes to include employees that worked at the restaurants during that timeframe in the suit. He additionally claims that the restaurant owners manipulated time records after the fact “to show lesser hours than actually worked.”
Antoine also accuses the “Vanderpump Rules” star of not paying minimum wages for hours that were worked off the clock, during training or when an employee was on call, and claims that he was not provided proper meal or rest breaks during his workday, according to the lawsuit.
“These are disgruntled ex-employees that had been written up with many warnings by management and subsequently let go,” a source “close to the case” reportedly told the podcast.
News of the lawsuit comes in the wake of Sunday’s incident at the couple’s Pump restaurant in which a Ferrari crashed into the glass wall between the patio and the sidewalk from Santa Monica Boulevard, resulting in one woman being taken to the hospital for “minor cuts.”
A court date has been set for March 13.
Celebrity News
Madonna announces release date for new album
‘Confessions II’ marks return to the dance floor
Pop icon Madonna on Wednesday announced that her 15th studio album will be released on July 3.
Titled “Confessions II,” the new album is a sequel to 2005’s “Confessions on a Dance Floor,” an Abba and disco-infused hit.
The new album reunites Madonna with producer Stuart Price, who also helmed the original “Confessions” album. It’s her first album of new material since 2019’s “Madame X.”
“We must dance, celebrate, and pray with our bodies,” Madonna said in a press release. “These are things that we’ve been doing for thousands of years — they really are spiritual practices. After all, the dance floor is a ritualistic space. It’s a place where you connect — with your wounds, with your fragility. To rave is an art. It’s about pushing your limits and connecting to a community of like-minded people,” continued the statement. “Sound, light, and vibration reshape our perceptions. Pulling us into a trance-like state. The repetition of the bass, we don’t just hear it but we feel it. Altering our consciousness and dissolving ego and time.”
Denali (@denalifoxx) of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” performed at Pitchers DC on April 9 for the Thirst Trap Thursday drag show. Other performers included Cake Pop!, Brooke N Hymen, Stacy Monique-Max and Silver Ware Sidora.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
Arts & Entertainment
In an act of artistic defiance, Baltimore Center Stage stays focused on DEI
‘Maybe it’s a triple-down’
By LESLIE GRAY STREETER | I’m always tickled when people complain about artists “going political.” The inherent nature of art, of creation and free expression, is political. This becomes obvious when entire governments try to threaten it out of existence, like in 2025, when the brand-new presidential administration demanded organizations halt so-called diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programming or risk federal funding.
Baltimore Center Stage’s response? A resounding and hearty “Nah.” A year later, they’re still doubling down on diversity.
“Maybe it’s a triple-down,” said Ken-Matt Martin, the theater’s producing director, chuckling.
The rest of this article can be found on the Baltimore Banner’s website.
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