With another season of R&B Divas Atlanta a wrap, it's time for decisions to be made for season four and just who should return.
Following a dramatic reunion, including Angie Stone walking off, returning and resigning in a matter of minutes, executive producer Phil Thornton spoke with Madame Noire.
Not mincing words, Thornton was very clear about a lot of things, including how he feels about Nicci Gilbert, who was brought up during part two of the reunion, and LaTavia Roberson.
"God bless her, I just want no parts. It just wasn’t good for anyone involved. But you know…good luck," Thornton said when asked about Gilbert and the often thrown up discussion about "bad editing."
"The decision to cast LaTavia was because she was obviously one of the founding members of one of the biggest female groups in the history of R&B and pop music. So I loved the story of that on one level, and her background is R&B. That is a part of her legacy and history. All the women have R&B music in common and I said, in theory, we’d love for them to work together, but I stressed that it’s not mandatory. If you don’t want to be part, do not continue to go to rehearsal. If the reality is, I’m not trying to sing, but I AM a songwriter, okay, so let’s put her in the studio with Jazze Pha. But you saw for yourself, nothing she wrote…but you don’t have to be a singer to be a diva. You can be a songwriter, but my thing is, we gave you the opportunity to tell us what to capture, but we only saw what you gave," Thornton went on to say about LaTavia Roberson's portrayal on the show.
As widely reported, LaTavia felt as though she was not being show in the best light. She also felt a way about everyone coming down on her for not singing on a show about singers…
"I think she’s great, she’s a great person, I think she’s sweet, and I loved the story. I loved that she’s a single mom and there were a lot of layers to make me think that she would be a great fit. Did I know that she was not going to sing? That I didn’t know," Phil Thornton went on to tell Madame Noire. "To come back after such a long period of time and be ridiculed online probably is a bit much, but what you’re NOT going to do is portray us like we did you wrong, because that’s not cool. I would feel bad if I was out here like ‘I should have called her, I should have told her, I should have warned her.’ But I did."
"R&B Divas Atlanta" aired on TV One. It's unclear who may or may not return for a fourth season if granted.
"R&B Divas LA" premieres next Wednesday, July 16 on TV One.
