Actress Amanda Seales believes she has been deliberately excluded from major events in Black Hollywood, and her complicated history with Floetry, Myron Rolle, Shaun King, Issa Rae’s publicist, and “Insecure” co-star Sarunas Jackson could share some insight into why,
On March 18, just days after the March 16 airing of the NAACP Image Awards on BET, the comedian, and founder of the “Smart, Funny, and Black” show took to Instagram to bemoan to her 2.2 million followers about how disheartened she is over not being invited to major cultural events. She attributes not being invited to the NAACP Image Awards, BET Awards, and the 7th Annual ESSENCE Black Women in Hollywood Awards to not being liked by the top dogs in the industry.
Speaking to her followers, Seales started the clip, “I just want to say something: If it wasn’t for you, I would think that I’m not doing s—t because the industry I’m in does not recognize me.”
“And to be clear,” she continued, “I’m speaking about the Black spaces in the industry [that] I’m in because you all know I don’t give two damns about any of these other spaces.”
She said that because she is not welcomed by her own people, the people she loves, she has been thinking about shifting out of entertainment.
“I don’t get invited to Essence Women in Hollywood. I’ve never been invited to the NAACP Image Awards (I’ve been nominated for an Image Award never been invited to the NAACP Image Awards). [I’ve] never been honored at Black Girls Rock. Like, I’ve hosted these events. You know what I’m saying? I literally hosted the BET Awards in 2020 in my house, and I was not invited to the BET Awards since,” she said before thanking her fans for their support.
“I just want to thank you all for always reminding me that I really am valuable,” the former social media influencer said. “Because the game and the industry that I’ve been in has never let me know.”
Her fans were swift to come out in support of her.
One person commented, “@bet ghosting you after you hosted and chilled at home for your first time (cuz, quarantine) That is very weird. They knew how to find you before. They lost your number?”
Other users noted the inclusion of Dr. Dre and Jonathan Majors, men who have been accused of violence toward women, in BET’s most recent programming.
Can’t believe #NAACPImageAwards didn’t invite Amanda Seales but invited abusers 👀🙄 https://t.co/ql1jmTsaVu pic.twitter.com/Isvfb21YMh
— Thique (@Miss_Thiqueness) March 18, 2024
“Dr. Dre’s woman beating a— not only still receives invitations to awards shows but LITERALLY has a prestigious award named after him and you lot are writing dissertations on your support of Amanda Seales non invitations despite being nominated?” one social media user tweeted.
Dr. Dre’s woman beating ass not only still receives invitations to awards shows but LITERALLY has a prestigious award named after him and you lot are writing dissertations on your support of Amanda Seales non invitations despite being nominated?
— 𝔹𝕚𝕤𝕔𝕦𝕚𝕥 𝔹𝕖𝕙𝕖𝕞𝕠𝕥𝕙 (@UnlearningL) March 18, 2024
Fellow celebrities also chimed in, stating that they experienced the same things.
Singer Lala Hathaway, renowned vocalist and daughter of soul singer Donny Hathaway, wrote, “Mostly same..love all my Grammys…but would love to hear from my folks too.”
Model Liris Crosse commented, “Same especially since my work has been about visibility and representation for BLACK plus size women and the thing is I want it from my own but I just go where I’m celebrated. I still appreciate all those shows and my peers getting their ‘flowers.’”
Some of the entertainers in her comments chose to affirm her.
Singer Syleena Johnson wrote, “We see you and hear you sis! You are very MUCH a house hold name where I’m from! Same here sis, this industry pretty much rotates the same people. Luckily success isn’t measured by those invites! You’re providing thought that helps to change hearts and minds. Way more important in my opinion.”
Despite the overwhelming support, some people believe that Seales might be the reason she’s excluded from these lists.
“Amanda Seales complaining that Black Hollywood doesnt F with her after years of burning bridges and ruining her chance to properly conclude her last big role because she was beefing with the black cast, is the on brand lack of self-awareness that I expect from her,” tweeted one social media user.
We're in an era of widespread narcissism where so many people are incapable of being honest with themselves. Sometimes you have to explore the thought, "Maybe it's me." It's for your own good.
— Jane Flames (@FlamesJane) March 18, 2024
Anyway, Amanda Seales is one of those people.
“I hate when people like Amanda Seales, that live their lives as provocateurs rubbing people the wrong way, start acting surprised that people don’t rock with them,” one person tweeted. “You’re annoying and no one wants to be around you. Don’t blame Black spaces for your bad personality.”
I hate when people like Amanda Seales, that live their lives as provocateurs rubbing people the wrong way, start acting surprised that people don’t rock with them. You’re annoying and no one wants to be around you. Don’t blame Black spaces for your bad personality. pic.twitter.com/2OjrTSAvLv
— Joshua Walker (@Joshyoutrippin) March 18, 2024
Upon catching wind of the controversy, Essence left a comment for Seales on Instagram and apologized for excluding her from their big event.
“We hear you and we love you,” someone from the publication wrote. “We will do a better job at showing up for you and showing you that the love is real. Happy to offline to see where we can show up for you.”
Amanda Seales’ Complex History With Black Entertainment
Amanda Seales, formerly known as Amanda Diva, has had conflicts with several individuals in Hollywood dating back several years.
In 2007, Seales paused her rap career to replace Natalie Stewart in the musical duo Floetry alongside Marsha Ambrosius. However, despite re-recording music and being taught the tricks of the trade by Ambrosius, her stint with the group did not last very long due to a conflict with the singer.
“My frustration with Marsha was that she did not take an active role in bringing me to the crowd with the love that she would have needed to show me for them to show love,” Seales said. “She had all the power.”
Seales also mentioned not feeling protected by Ambrosius after former member Natalie did an interview with Wendy Williams calling out the group as “fake.”
“Marsha and I are in the car and they turn on the radio and it’s Wendy Williams. Natalie is on the radio with Wendy Williams and she’s like, ‘That Amanda, she was just not Floetry, she’s not the real Floetry. If y’all want to see a real Floetry show, don’t go to that show,'” Seales recalled.
She then says she turned to Marsha Ambrosius for advice on how to handle the drama, to which the songstress simply replied, “It is what it is.”
In 2019, Seales found herself caught up in a whirlwind of online drama when she accused NFL player turned Harvard neurosurgeon Myron Rolle of sexual harassment against her and other women.
At first, she spoke of an incident on her podcast and “The Breakfast Club” but did not mention Rolle by name. However, after allegedly being contacted by eight other women who described Rolle as predatory, Seales eventually took to Instagram to put a name to the accusations.
“I really don’t take it lightly what I’m about to say because when you name names, you know you not only put that person out there, but you put yourself out there,” she said in the 2019 video. “But I feel as a woman who makes it my business to be a warrior for the truth that it needs to be said. I, on my podcast and on ‘The Breakfast Club,’ spoke about an individual who had approached me on the internet. We spoke on the phone, and they said some troubling things in the conversation that made me take a step back.”
Seales continued, “When I spoke about him on my podcast and on ‘The Breakfast Club,’ I didn’t say his name. I literally just said a couple of characteristics about him, and it has been shocking and incredibly discomforting to me how many women, eight as of tonight, have come forward to say his name. And that he had been incredibly problematic and behaved in a very sexually predatorial way that could have gotten him fired. I say all that to say, if you are approached by Myron Rolle, you should just be mindful.”
The accusations started a media fire that forced Rolle to take to social media to defend himself.
“I understand that in today’s world the responsibility falls on the ‘accused’ to prove themselves innocent, as opposed to ones alleged ‘accuser’ having to prove their claims before going public. Unfortunately, I have found myself victim to these very circumstances,” Rolle wrote in a lengthy online statement.
He went on to clarify that he had never met Seales and only spoken to her once on the phone before she claimed he “verbally harassed” her and alleged anonymous women came forward to say he harassed them as well.
Rolle said he believes sexual harassment accusations should be taken seriously but maintained that he is innocent of committing such acts.
“I will not sit idly by and allow someone to engage in intentional character assassination simply because I did not return their advances or wish to engage in a relationship as they may have wanted,” Rolle expressed.
The backlash from Rolle’s response caused Seales to explain her previous statements, saying that she never accused Rolle of harassing her personally.
“I never accused Myron Rolle of sexually harassing me or of sending me inappropriate DMs. What I did say was via DM, several women have approached me, accusing him of sexually harassing them,” Seales said in a video posted on Feb. 27, 2019.
Seales had a busy 2019, and her lack of invites to the BET Awards is not the first time that Seales has spoken out about not being invited to a “Hollywood” event. Also in 2019, Seales took to Instagram to say that she was being kicked out of a Black Hollywood party during Emmys weekend.
During a late-night rant, Seales alleged that it was Issa Rae’s publicist who made the official call to have her removed from the party by “a white woman named Kiara.”
“For the record, I am being denied entrance to the Black people’s Emmy party,” Seales said from outside of the party. “And it’s a white woman telling me I can’t go in. I just want to put this on record that I am literally being told, ‘You cannot get entrance into a party that Jesse Williams invited me to.’ That is the only Black event for the Emmy weekend because a white woman is telling me I can’t get in. But I’m fine.”
The discourse surrounding Seales’ rant prompted the actress’ “Insecure” co-star, Sarunas S. Jackson, to share his two cents.
“You can’t be a disrespectful ass human being and expect people to want to hang out with you. It’s quite simple. Sit it out,” Jackson said in an October 2019 tweet.
Although not a part of Black Hollywood, Amanda Seales found herself in a back-and-forth with Shaun King in 2019 after the activist called her out for telling falsehoods about the 1996 case of Texas death row inmate Rodney Reed and accusing him of murdering a woman who was very much still alive.
Before making an update to her error on social media, Seales took to Instagram to call out those who sought the exoneration of Reed for allegedly raping and murdering two women. However, Reed was not tried for murdering two women; only one woman was killed.
“It’s very duplicitous, not just his family, but persons who fancy themselves activists, were doing so with the knowledge that his person, Rodney Reed, is not just accused of but has been linked to previous rapes via his DNA being discovered within the victim,” she said in the IG video.
King quickly called out Seales on Instagram upon seeing her video.
“Sooooooo many lies in this video,” he wrote. “Rodney did not commit the crime, was acquitted, and the woman was never murdered. People. Be careful what you listen to out here. Amanda called herself Google searching the case for a few hours and said a lot of factually incorrect stuff that does real harm.”
After much backlash, Seales eventually updated her Instagram caption to include a note reading: “UPDATE: Correction – RR was tried in Wichita Falls for Rape, not Rape+Murder.”
In June 2020, six months after joining the cast of “The Real” as their fifth co-host, Seales abruptly parted ways with the daytime talk show.
“I left ‘The Real’ because it was breaking my spirit… I was being asked to not talk about certain things that felt like a betrayal to my people and to me as a person,” Seales explained to the comedian Godfrey on his Instagram Live.
“And then on top of that, I didn’t want to be somewhere that I felt like people weren’t being honest with me and where people felt scared of me because of my Black woman-ess,” Seales continued.
Despite her issues with “The Real,” Seales disputed all rumors that she and her co-hosts were on the outs ahead of her departure.
“Do not try to create some false dissension between me and the co-hosts of The Real. Y’all so f— corny,” Seales posted to her Instagram Stories at the time. “There is a whole pandemic and an uprising going on, and you still can’t find s— else to do but try and create some kind of conflict that doesn’t exist? I did not unfollow Loni Love. I haven’t unfollowed anybody. What ya’ll don’t understand is grown women do grown women business. That’s what y’all don’t understand, and what I gotta do with my business ain’t got nothing to do with them sisters.”
