MTV's 'The Real World: New York' cast reunites 29 years later
The original seven strangers from MTV's The Real World: New York, reunites 29 years later for Yahoo Entertainment, ahead of The Real World Homecoming New York, premiering on Paramount+ on March 4, 2021.
Video Transcript
JULIE: It's 29 years later. And we're still having the same conversations.
- You just [BLEEP] called me a racist.
- Because you are.
BECKY: It's going to sound, again, racist.
- Then don't say it. You're missing the point of all of this.
- Things haven't changed.
- I'm very excited obviously about this because I watched "Real World" from season one, from your season. Honestly a little bit surprised that all seven people signed on because sometimes when they do reunions, there's one or two that say no thanks. So was there any reluctance on any of your part? Andre, I'm looking at you.
- Yeah, no, no, [INAUDIBLE]. None of us are really that uptight. We're all pretty open minded, open for experience. We love each other.
We had an incredible experience together. And like you said, 29 years later, we've made a huge impact on entertainment. It transformed our lives.
I mean, we've stayed in contact with each other at different levels over the years. And we're always open to connecting with each other no matter where we are or what we're going through.
- See, Lizzie. That's what I didn't call Eric about my reluctancy because Eric is very persuasive. And he's very convincing. I definitely was reluctant initially. I did not want to get involved.
I kind of had this idea of not messing up something that was already really good and not going back into it and ruining what was already a good thing. Plus I was thinking about like, at this age where we all are now, living with people, and we didn't know we were going back into the loft initially. We didn't know that.
And so they didn't tell us. They just said a reunion show. And so that was like surprising. But then just at this age, I'm married.
I live with my husband. We don't have any kids. So just thinking about sharing a space with six other people, I was like nah, yo. This ain't going to work. How many bathrooms?
I had all of these three pre Heather B demands that I wanted just thinking about living back then. And so Julie and Norman were on my tail. They were like, you got to do this. You got to do this. You got to do this.
I didn't call Eric because he's cute. And I know how persuasive he is. And that's my boo. He'll get to me.
And so I left him out of my concerns. But Julie and Norman were like, no, this is going to be great. It's going to be fun.
We'll have a good time. Just pack up your bar, and let's go. And so that's exactly what I did, Lizzie.
[INTERPOSING VOICES]
I told all of them. I said, we have a group text. We do.
I told everybody on a text, I love y'all. But I'm passing. Y'all have fun.
- I'm so glad you were convinced. Thank you, Norman, for your service.
- I think all of us were a little hesitant until we knew it was going to be the seven of us. There's a lot of safety when you have your whole family there.
- As soon as we found out that all seven of us were involved and that the concept was us getting together just the seven of us, no other costs involved, and it was going to be a revisiting of our season, I was excited about it. We've had a lot of interaction over the years.
We've had a running text thread these last couple of years with just the seven of us. So it was very exciting for all of us to be together again because although we've had so much interaction over the years, it's been since the early 90s since we were all together in the same room.
- need to see that group text. Please--
[INTERPOSING VOICES]
- No, no, no.
- Please add me to the chain. Yeah, I know. Obviously, that's for your eyes only. But it's so wonderful to see you guys all back together, especially back in the same loft.
And it's wonderful for, I think, for people to remember how important this show was. I don't even know how many seasons of "The Real World" there have been. But there's only one, the number one. And there's only seven of you that can know what it was like to be there. Did you realize you were part of like changing history of TV, reality TV when you clearly couldn't have realized what you were signing up for?
- I don't think when we first got there and we first started, I don't think anybody thought this is going to change television history and that it would start a new genre. But I think as we were going, there were-- we had actual conversations with producers as they were figuring out what they were doing. Guys, remember that pow-wow and Mary Alice and John in the living room? They told us we were boring. I don't think we knew we were going to start something so enormous.
- I mean, I thought it was going to be like an after school special, like something [INAUDIBLE]. And it would be like an hour long, and that was it. And no one would see it.
It'd be OK, that ran on Saturday. OK, that was interesting to see because we're all artists in New York. And we were all just finding our way in the world.
And I thought here's a window into New York City. Here comes Julie from Alabama. Let's just see the kids from New York City.
And we exposed what it's like to be an artist under the umbrella of MTV where it's super creative. And here it is on Saturday morning. And then it's gone. That was my framework of what I thought the show was going to be and no one would watch it because who's going to watch something on Saturday morning?
- It's profound when I think about it now just in terms of pop culture game changers. Our season literally falls into this category of things that help to shift an entire culture and created a whole other genre of TV. No one can say that, and no one can take from us that we were the seven who originated all of this. And it's profound.
There's no Kardashians. There's no Paris Hilton. There's so many different things that have come after.
Unfortunately, we can also say there was no President Trump without us as well, some people tried to blame us for. But what I'm proud of is that we were authentically ourselves in our first season. And I think that's why people still talk about it all the time. It's really powerful.
- There was a seat change after our show. And the absolute shift in pop culture to-- and obviously the whole genre of reality TV changed and maybe became a little more lurid, a little more exploitive. And I'm so grateful that I was a part of the first incarnation of reality TV. And it was more documentary style.
As we maybe talked about, I don't think that I certainly or many of us would have participated in the second season, third season. We were all very serious in our artistic endeavors. And I think that we would have shied away from the possibilities of something negatively impacting our pursuits. I feel very grateful that my involvement was the first because I don't think I would have done any other.
- Is there going to be a rain dance reunion?
- That guy plays with like Jack White now.
- I know, yeah. I mean, we're all friends. We're all friends. But yeah, that's--
- He said, no, that's not happening.
- You know what? Kevin and Julie, the unfinished business of like the big fight that happened in your season. Tell me about revisiting that? Because what I remember from seeing on TV, the way they presented it in your season with a bit of mystery in a non-exploitative way, your-- I feel like it was done in a tasteful way that maybe wouldn't happen on in like the world of Big Brother and shows like that now. You know what I mean?
- I understand that that is something people really do like to revisit is that fight. But we did get some resolution there. Neither one of us left the loft after that.
No one moved out. It wasn't now what are we going to do? Someone should leave. We did come back together then.
And I feel like we've only grown closer since. And so the thing that you get I think by having this reunion is seeing that we are still close and that our relationship does continue. And to me, that's a much more interesting path.
- We've grown. We've evolved. I'm still passionate about fighting any form of oppression. It's not just racism, but sexism, about homophobia, all of it, transphobia, all of it. But I wouldn't necessarily be yelling and screaming and cursing at this stage of my life. I think that we've evolved where we understand particularly that if we're going to heal as a country, move people forward as a country, we've also got to be able to not only talk with each other, but also learn how to listen to each other and our different perspectives.
- So I just want to know if there was anything, any unfinished business, was there anything when you came back to the scene where you're like there's some closure I need to get on something, or something I need to get resolved?
- I wanted to address-- I ruined Eric and Kevin's birthday party by getting arrested for having a fight at that birthday party. I wanted to make up for that. I wanted to come back and bring back the party that I ruined by the cops coming in and busting it up.
That wasn't me, y'all. I'm copping a Shaggy plea right now. It wasn't me. But I ruined their party. So I had to try to fix that.
- I don't even know what she's talking about because I had the time of my life. It was all a party. It never ended.
- Well, this was a party. This was a Zoom party. I cannot wait to watch the series. Thank you for doing it.
- We love you.
- I love you. The whole world loves you. "The Real World."
[MUSIC PLAYING]
