{"id":2314425,"date":"2026-03-05T19:56:27","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T19:56:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2314425"},"modified":"2026-03-05T19:56:27","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T19:56:27","slug":"below-deck-alum-sues-network-for-633m-over-alleged-sexual-harassment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/below-deck-alum-sues-network-for-633m-over-alleged-sexual-harassment\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;Below Deck&#8217; alum sues network for $633M over alleged sexual harassment"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>\u201cBelow Deck\u201d alum Emile Kotze is suing NBCUniversal for $633 million over allegations of sexual harassment on the set of the popular reality show.<\/p>\n<p>The former reality star \u2014 who appeared on Season 3 of the show in 2015 \u2014 filed an amended federal lawsuit against the network in the Southern District of New York in October 2025, per court documents obtained by Page Six. His initial complaint was filed in June 2025.<\/p>\n<p>Kotze, 34, claims in the amended lawsuit that during his time on the show, he was subjected to a \u201chostile work environment rife with sexual harassment, manipulation, and dangerous conditions.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>\u201cBelow Deck\u201d alum Emile Kotze (pictured here in 2015) sued NBCUniversal over allegations of sexual harassment. <span class=\"credit\">NBC<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Kotze (seen here in 2015) filed an amended federal lawsuit against the network in the Southern District of New York in October 2025. <span class=\"credit\">NBC<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module aligncenter wp-block-nypost-editor-primary-tag\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>The professional yacht deckhand further alleged that NBCUniversal failed to protect him from abuse, defamed him, misappropriated his likeness and \u201cengaged in a cover-up and retaliation campaign to silence and discredit him when he sought redress.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Elsewhere in his federal complaint, the former \u201cBelow Deck\u201d star alleged that he was tricked into participating in the popular Bravo series under \u201cfalse pretenses\u201d that it was a documentary about yachting life.<\/p>\n<p>Kotze claimed in the lawsuit that the show\u2019s producers \u201cbegan steering\u201d him into a \u201cromantic entanglement\u201d with co-star Raquel \u201cRocky\u201d Dakota.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Kotze (seen here in an Instagram picture from 2022) claims he was subjected to a \u201chostile work environment rife with sexual harassment, manipulation, and dangerous conditions\u201d in the lawsuit. <span class=\"credit\">emilio2realio\/Instagram<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Kotze (pictured here with his \u201cBelow Deck\u201d cast mates) starred in Season 3 of the Bravo series in 2015. <span class=\"credit\">NBC<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Besides accusing NBCUniversal and the \u201cBelow Deck\u201d producers of discriminating against him for being from South Africa, Kotze claimed that Season 3 of the Bravo series was allegedly edited to falsely portray him as \u201cmisogynistic\u201d and \u201cimmature.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As for his \u201conce-promising yachting career,\u201d Kotze alleged that it was \u201cdestroyed\u201d and that he \u201chas been effectively blacklisted\u201d from the industry \u201cwith an estimated $123 million in lost future earnings.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>He also cited \u201cout-of-pocket medical costs for medical and psychological treatment of trauma\u201d and \u201clasting emotional distress\u201d that included \u201cPTSD, anxiety and depression\u201d resulting from NBCUniversal\u2019s alleged actions.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Kotze (seen here during Season 3 of \u201cBelow Deck\u201d) claimed that the show\u2019s producers \u201cbegan steering\u201d him into a \u201cromantic entanglement\u201d with co-star Raquel \u201cRocky\u201d Dakota. <span class=\"credit\">NBC<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Kotz and Dakota (seen together here in 2015) starred together during Season 3 of \u201cBelow Deck.\u201d <span class=\"credit\">NBC<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Kotze is seeking $633 million from the network over the alleged sexual harassment he suffered while on the show: $123 million in alleged lost income, $500 million in punitive damages and $10 million in compensatory damages<\/p>\n<p><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tmz.com\/2026\/03\/05\/below-deck-star-emile-kotze-sues-nbc-universal\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">TMZ was the first to report<\/a> on Kotze\u2019s lawsuit.<\/p>\n<p>NBCUniversal, meanwhile, filed a motion to dismiss Kotze\u2019s nearly multimillion-dollar lawsuit in November 2025.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>The former \u201cBelow Deck\u201d star (seen here in Washington, DC, in 2024) alleged that he has been \u201cblacklisted\u201d from the industry. <span class=\"credit\">emilio2realio\/Instagram<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Kotze (seen here in an Instagram photo from 2024) is seeking $633 million in lost income and damages from the network <span class=\"credit\">emilio2realio\/Instagram<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The network argued that the federal complaint \u2013 which was filed 10 years after Season 3 first aired \u2013 came past the statute of limitations, per court documents obtained by Page Six from Kotze\u2019s initial June 2025 complaint.<\/p>\n<p>NBCUniversal also cited the First Amendment.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs a general matter, the First Amendment forbids the government, including the Judicial Branch, from dictating what we see or read or speak or hear,\u201d the network argued.<\/p>\n<p>A rep for NBCUniversal did not immediately respond to Page Six\u2019s request for comment.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><em> \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source pagesix.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cBelow Deck\u201d alum Emile Kotze is suing NBCUniversal for $633 million over allegations of sexual harassment on the set of the popular reality show. The former reality star \u2014 who appeared on Season 3 of the show in 2015 \u2014 filed an amended federal lawsuit against the network in the Southern District of New York [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2314426,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25177],"tags":[351889,350799,24003,348955,28097,24122,21913],"class_list":["post-2314425","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-celebrities","tag-below-deck","tag-celebrity-lawsuits","tag-celebrity-news","tag-nbcuniversal","tag-reality-show","tag-reality-tv","tag-tv"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Below-Deck-alum-sues-network-for-633M-over-alleged-sexual.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2314425","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2314425"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2314425\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2314427,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2314425\/revisions\/2314427"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2314426"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2314425"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2314425"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2314425"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}