‘Below Deck’ Alum Emile Kotze
Sues NBCUniversal for $850 Million …
Network Denies Sexual Harassment Allegation
Published
March 5, 2026
3:00 AM PST
|
Updated
March 5, 2026
5:24 AM PST
“Below Deck” alum Emile Kotze claims producers portrayed him as “immature” and “sexually aggressive,” and now he’s taking them to court over it — but the producers say his suit should be tossed out because they’re protected under the First Amendment … TMZ has learned.
Emile filed a federal lawsuit in New York demanding $850 million in damages from NBCUniversal and the reality show producers.
Emile says he’s a South African citizen and professional yacht deckhand who was hired to be a star of the show in 2015 for Season 3, at the age of 23.
Emile claims he was told the show was like a documentary … only to find out it was a salacious reality TV drama. He claims he was essentially manipulated into embarrassing scenarios.
He claims producers pressured him into a fake romantic storyline with his castmate Raquel “Rocky” Dakota, encouraged heavy drinking, and orchestrated sexually charged encounters and humiliating pranks.
In addition, Emile claims the producers edited the footage in a “highly misleading manner to craft a false, defamatory portrayal” of him to make him “immature, incompetent, and sexually aggressive.”
Emile says he was blacklisted from the yachting industry after the show aired. He said the show caused him to suffer severe psychological trauma from the betrayal and public humiliation, claiming he was diagnosed with “PTSD, anxiety, and depression directly linked to the show experience.”
The producers scoff at the lawsuit … they say most of the claims were brought past the statute of limitations, and are “unsupported by any plausible factual allegations.” They also argue they have a First Amendment right to “shape and convey their creative works” through casting and editing, and they can’t use the courts to restrict their ability to do so.
