Southern Charm: CANCELED Thanks to Thomas Ravenel Assault?

Disgraced former Southern Charm star Thomas Ravenel is being sued by his children’s former nanny.

Dawn Ledwell accuses Thomas of sexual assault, and is now suing NBC Universal and Bravo, claiming that they conspired to cover up his crimes.

Will this scandal spell the end of Southern Charm?

Between this year’s hurricane season and this massive lawsuit, there are plenty of threats to Southern Charm.

But RadarOnline has good news from a production source for those who worry that the hit series will be cancelled.

“They won’t shut the show down,” the insider insists.

That is a relief for fans. Sometimes, scandal can kill a show.

“Frivilous litigating against Haymaker and NBCU is truly pointless,” the source expresses.

This is, admittedly, clearly not a neutral party.

The inside source goes on to make a prediction about Dawn Ledwell’s chances in court.

“This suit will get tossed,” the insider suspects.

Meaning that they believe that it will have no standing and that a judge will put an end to the suit.

That’s a lot of confidence.

“And,” the source also predicts. “‘Southern Charm’ will continue.”

That, at least, will be good news for fans.

Southern Charm may continue, but it will do so without Thomas Ravenel.

Once one of the show’s biggest names, he will never again appear on the hit Bravo reality series.

In May, he was accused of multiple instances of sexual assault.

One was an allegation of date rape, which he allegedly addressed by buying the silence of the victim (it was her daughter who spoke out).

Another was the accusation leveled by Nanny Dawn Ledwell, that he had assaulted her while one of his young children slept nearby, then fired her.

Thomas is expected to stand trial for the assault.

But the incident of sexual battery is only part of Ledwell’s lawsuit.

In court documents, Ledwell’s legal team accuses the company of running a show that encouraged Thomas’ “Peter Pan syndrome” lifestyle.

More to the point, the suit claims that Ledwell informed an employee of one of the corporate defendants about the assault in 2015.

Per the documents, her team believes that the failure to act or properly investigate amounts to a conspiracy to cover up Thomas’ alleged crimes.

“Corporate Defendants and Ravenel have conspired with one another,” the papers read.

Ledwell’s team alleges that this was done “to deter the investigations of assaults committed by Defendant Ravenel.”

Proving a conspiracy like this could be incredibly difficult.

It seems likely that Ledwell may be able to demonstrate in court that she informed someone who works for Bravo or NBCUniversal.

Proving that this was then passed up the corporate ladder and deliberately buried in order to protect Thomas Ravenel is another matter.

Still, if Ledwell is going through with this suit, perhaps she and her legal team know something that the rest of us do not.

Or perhaps some opportunists are giving Ledwell bad advice.

We expect that we will all find out soon enough as this lawsuit moves forward.

Thomas Ravenel is definitely going to face difficult times ahead.

A lawsuit is one thing. A criminal trial is another altogether.

Thomas’ prior conviction for drugs is considerably less serious than the accusations of sexual assault.

A number of his former castmates and “friends” have openly acknowledged that he has a “dark side” to his personality.

Fans saw, through his relationship with Ashley Jacobs and before that with Kathryn Dennis, how unkind he could be.

Having cultivated an image as an irresponsible man who is not always kind to women may not be to his benefit when he goes before a jury.

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