Lifetime debuted a series earlier this year that would be a little taste of Chocolate City and Magic Mike on the small screen. Vivica A. Fox hosted Vivica's Black Magic, which was a reality show about male exotic dancers. There was plenty of eye candy to be found as the dancers worked on their routines, but not everything was quite so enticing behind-the-scenes. Now, Fox is being sued by Black Magic executive producer Jean-Claude LaMarre for libel, slander, and contract interference after she allegedly took steps to prevent LaMarre from turning a profit off of the show.
The drama started in early January, when Vivica A. Fox appeared on a morning show and said that the dancers of Black Magic would not perform for gay men because they "dance for women," implying that the shows are intended for girls' nights out and not for gay men. Unsurprisingly, she faced backlash for her comments, and Jean-Claude LaMarre publicly apologized on her behalf. That could have been the end of the entire incident, but the plot evidently only thickened once LaMarre launched a traveling dance show of his own to capitalize off of the show's publicity.
Jean-Claude LaMarre claims that Vivica A. Fox was angry with him for apologizing on her behalf rather than letting her handle it, striking back at him by debuting her own traveling dance show that would directly compete with his. Her show -- called Xplicit Minds -- would compete with LaMarre's Black Magic Live tour. Fox recruited four dancers to jump ship from Black Magic Live to Xplicit Minds and allegedly called those who stuck by LaMarre to threaten them with being cut from Season 2 of Vivica's Black Magic.
Vivica A. Fox allegedly used Twitter and Instagram to profess that Black Magic Live was attempting to mislead consumers into believing that she and all of the dancers from Black Magic would be involved. The lawsuit claims that the social media compaign motivated customers to cancel tickets for Black Magic Live shows, ultimately destroying "any economic advantages LaMarre expected to to enjoy following the reality show." Ouch!
The conflict between Vivica A. Fox and Jean-Claude LeMarre seems to have escalated awfully quickly. Their battle would not bode well for the future of the series if it was still ongoing; Variety, however, reports that Lifetime is not planning on renewing Vivica's Black Magic for a second season. We'll have to wait and see who comes out on top in the battle over the male stripper shows.
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