Stassi Schroeder Got Married. Congrats! She’s Still Cancelled

Vanderpump Rules may be off the air, but the cast’s personal lives are keeping fans entertained even while the cameras aren’t rolling. Former cast member Stassi Schroeder is going through a lot of major life changes, and she’s keeping Pump Rules audiences in the loop. Still, we still haven't forgotten the disturbing reason that she was yanked off of the reality show in the first place.

Today, Schroeder shared on Instagram that she and Beau Clark tied the knot in a casual backyard ceremony. The low-key nuptials took place on the day that they'd originally planned to be wed in a lavish ceremony oceans away in Italy.

"Today would’ve been our wedding day," she captioned video footage from the special occasion. "We went and did it anyway."

Schroeder and Beau got engaged last year in a spooky cemetery proposal that played out during an episode of the reality series. Almost immediately, Schroeder started planning for their wedding, an event that fans were certain would be televised... because Bravo. Those plans were derailed, but not just because of the global coronavirus pandemic — Stassi got cancelled.

Amid the civil unrest stirred up by the uptick in police violence against Black people on a national scale and the social justice movements that grew stronger as a result, more and more people have been thinking more critically about this country's culture of anti-Blackness. Conversations about racist media sprung up widely, with audiences and celebrities pointing out instances of problematic behavior in the entertainment industry. Pump Rules was a big part of that conversation, specifically its cast members' history of bigotry. Lala Kent was called out for her blaccent, Jax Taylor was criticized for transphobic and sexist comments, and newbies Brett Caprioni and Max Boyens were sacked for using racial slurs on their social media.

Schroeder and former friend Kristen Doute also got the boot. Fans were furious to discover that two-thirds of the Witches of WeHo had falsely identified former SURver (and sole Black Pump Rules cast member) Faith Stowers as the suspect of a serial robbery simply because they disliked her for sleeping with Taylor. To make matters worse, Schroeder even confirmed that she had reached out the military police to report that Faith had gone AWOL.

The former Pump Rules star's misdeeds didn't stop there. While she was still a paid cast member on the show, Schroeder really showed her ass. Among other things, she criticized Black people and the #OscarsSoWhite campaign for complaining about on-screen representation, talked down on the women sharing their #MeToo stories, and even referred to her personal style as "Nazi chic" on an episode of her now-defunct podcast. With all of the offenses she was racking up, Bravo had no choice but to release Schroeder from her contract amidst fan outrage.

One would think that Schroeder would have taken her firing as a time to learn from her behavior and do better, but no. Although she did offer a private apology to Stowers and an official statement expressing regret for her actions, we've yet to see a changed Stassi. If anything, it feels like she's just trying to make us forget what went down.

Last month, Schroeder appeared on an episode of The Tamron Hall Show to talk with the journalist about her scandal. The interview went as expected — the pregnant reality star called herself a "Karen" and shared that she had even hired a "diversity coach" — but after the conversation aired, Schroeder accused Hall of going rogue. She claimed that the TV host put her on the spot and made her feel awkward by asking her about her problematic behavior, which is concerning because that was the whole reason that Schroeder went on the show in the first place.

"I don’t tell people the specific questions I’m going to ask them. How they answer, that’s up to them,” Hall succinctly responded to Schroeder's claims. “But the topic and everything we discussed, Stassi knew. She knew the subject matter; she knew what I was going to ask her, not the questions.”

Following that interview, things were back to normal — sans Pump Rules contract — for Schroeder. In fact, she started doing even more to remind us that she wasn't going anywhere, almost as if the outrage about her behavior was irrelevant.

Now, being "cancelled" doesn't mean that you just slink off into the darkness, never to be heard from again; there is redemption for those who truly want it. However, bouncing back after being exposed for anti-Black and anti-Semitic behavior should be marked by changed behavior. In times like these, tearful apologies and "I hear you" are nowhere enough, especially when the talk doesn't match the walk. Just moving on isn't really a thing because the internet never forgets — accountability and action are the key to making a comeback.

I'm happy for Stassi, really. But it feels like there might be a little bit more work left for her to do.