Ryan Serhant is speaking out in response to his former employee Jonathan Normolle‘s claim that he was the one who planned his own firing.
At the end of season one of Netflix’s Owning Manhattan series, Jonathan got fired for a whole list of reasons, including tarnishing the brand’s reputation.
“I had a plan because I was under contract with Ryan and all the sponsorships,” Jonathan told DailyMail.com. “The only way I could get out of those contracts was if I got Ryan mad enough for him to fire me.”
Now, Ryan is responding to the assertions made by Jonathan.
Keep reading to find out more…
“I haven’t publicly commented. All I’ll say is I don’t fault anyone these days for trying to control their own narrative, but I think the facts tell a story and it’s almost like the facts were on a global Netflix TV show,” Ryan told Page Six’s “Virtual Reali-Tea” podcast.
He added, “When clients come on the show, they’ll say to me, ‘OK, I want to go on the show but I want to make sure you don’t make me look like a jerk.’ I’m like, ‘OK, well don’t say anything that will make you sound like a jerk.’”
Ryan talked about having Jonathan‘s firing become a moment on reality TV.
“It’s so awkward. It wasn’t my intent,” he said. “I don’t hire people with the intent to fire them. I didn’t hire any of the agents — who are actual real estate agents, who are actually at our company — with the intent to let them go. That was super uncomfortable.”
Ryan teased that it’s possible Jonathan will return to Owning Manhattan and compared it to his former work on the soap opera As The World Turns.
“I came to New York City to do theater, so I got onto a soap opera. So I played Doctor Evan Walsh IV. Not long after I started did I go from a good doctor to the doctor that kills everybody to then is murdered by his own grandmother. Which in ‘Actor World’ means you’re fired,” Ryan said. “And I remember going to the executive producer and he’s like, ‘Hey, listen. If the audience loves ya, you can always come back from he dead.’ And that’s what I’ll say.”
Check out the potential season two cast of Owning Manhattan.
