Vixen Chat: JasFly Talks VH1′s New Show ‘The Gossip Game’
There’s a thin line between reality television and real life. With shows like Love and Hip Hop and Basketball Wives keeping Twitter busy, it sometimes feels like we’re watching a soap opera instead of real people. But Mona Scott-Young‘s newest TV project The Gossip Game–a series following the lives of seven media personalities in NYC–may give Vixens a balance of ratchetness and real ambition. Let cast member and media personality JasFly tell it, she’s synonymous with what’s true and real. “I am the person that keeps in 100,” she says of her role on the new VH1 show. “I keep it real.”
As a woman who “wears many hats,” Jas tells Vixen about her reluctance to join the reality TV world and what we can expect to see starting April. — Nicole Brown, with additional reporting by Niki McGloster
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VIBE Vixen: What made you want to be apart of this show?
Jas Fly: I got a call asking if I would consider doing a show. So I [took a meeting], and I didn’t know if this was for me. I talked to a couple of people and kind of grabbed their perspective, and I have a story I want to tell, so why not?
What is that story?
I am the living personification that anything is possible. In 2008, I was 100 pounds heavier. I was completely broke and I had been cast out of my dream. I had no idea what I was going to do with my life. It occurred to me that if nothing comes of this life, it’s going to be nobody’s fault but mine.
How are you going to tell your story amongst the gossip?
We have a great cast–Kim Osorio, Angela Yee, K. Foxx, NYC Gossip Girl Vivian, Ms. Drama from Drama TV, and Sharon Carpenter–so there really is a wide spectrum of media. It’s not just gossip; it’s everything from hard-hitting news stories to “I heard this rumor.” So I’m not worried about it being misleading because I am who I am. I’m very honest and true, so you’ll get a great sense of who I am. Watch a few episodes. You’ll learn me.
At times, not always, when there is a group of women dealing with one another, it’s not uplifting or empowering. How did you ease your way into this situation?
We were thrown in. We don’t all get along. For me, there were some that I knew right away I’d click with. There are some I’m still learning, and there will always be one or two people where you’re like, “I respect you, I just can’t fuck with you.” I sit back and see who you are. I’m going to respond to you as you are, not who I want you to be. With my cast mates, I was able to kind of get some time with each one. I can’t speak for anybody else, but there’s no one on the cast that I can generally say that I don’t like.
What is one of one of the greatest things you’ve learned from your cast mates?
I’ve always had this professional fascination with Kim Osorio…
