Bethenny Frankel Illness: 'RHONY' Shocks Crowd During Women's Entrepreneurial Event [VIDEO]
Bethenny Frankel was the keynote speaker at a recent women's entrepreneurial summit, and during the event, the Real Housewives of New York City star made a number of questionable statements.
In addition to suggesting women have sex with men to secure investments, Frankel reportedly went on to advise the hundreds of women attendees to hire white men as the face of their companies. After the event, an attended named Mary Pryor blogged about her experience.
In a publication for The Huffington Post, Pryor wrote, "I was stunned when Frankel implied that women should have sex with men in exchange for capital. I was offended when she expressed some kind of kinship with black women because she's 'loud.' And I was taken aback when she advised those of us in the room to get business advice to hire a white man as the face of our companies."
Pryor also spoke out on Twitter, via Daily Mail, telling her followers, "I applaud the diverse room of women thanks to @UBS... However @Bethenny was offensive and wrong NOT proper for a room full of female founders... I along with another ally of color stood up to address how offensive @Bethenny was to not just us but the entire room. For @Bethenny to insist that a young, Black female founder 'Find a white guy' to rep her biz is a racial microaggression. I am tired of WW telling me that I am not enough to run & rep something I have built @Bethenny's remarks are damaging esp. in room full of women (mostly white) especially to a Black female founder."
The event, Project Entrepreneur, was set up by Jennifer Fleiss and Jennifer Hyman. A spokesperson for the organization released the following statement after Frankel's shocking statements:
"We understand that guests were offended during our Day 1 luncheon, following remarks made by our speaker. This was not our intention and is contrary to our goals. We apologize to our guests. We launched Project Entrepreneur to champion all women. We thank those of you who candidly spoke out and welcome this important dialogue. We look forward to continuing to empower women entrepreneurs as they build their businesses."
