Amanda Seales Slams Issa Rae Over Publicist's 'Smear Campaign' Against Her, Alleges 'Insecure' Co-Stars Shunned Her

Amanda Seales has accused Issa Rae of not protecting and "empowering" her after the "Insecure" creator's publicist allegedly went on a "smear campaign" against her.

Seales -- who starred in the HBO comedy series from 2017 to 2021 -- addressed rumors of a longtime feud between her and Rae during an interview with Shannon Sharpe on the "Club Shay Shay" podcast, which dropped Thursday.

The 42-year-old actress claimed that the rift began in 2018 when Rae's publicist, Vanessa Anderson, allegedly was rude to her at an Emmys party for Black stars.

When she called Rae to ask if Anderson had a "problem" with her, her then-co-star allegedly simply told her it was "none of [her] business."

Seales then claimed that she was denied entry into the 2019 Black Emmys party -- at the direction of Anderson.

After actor Elijah Kelley helped her get into the party, security guards allegedly forced Seales to leave.

According to Seales, Rae called her two days after the incident to let her know that she wasn't responsible for what happened and asked her to talk to Anderson.

It was during their phone conversation that Anderson allegedly admitted that she did not like Seales.

The former "The Real" co-host claimed that Anderson then began spreading false rumors about her, including that she was allegedly kicked out of the event because she caused an altercation. Rumors also surfaced that Seales was a "mean girl" on the set of "Insecure."

"I just want to point out something very basic. How can I be a mean girl on a set that ain't my set? How? It's your show. You are my boss," Seales said on the podcast. "I don't even have the capacity to be the mean girl here because you can fire me."

Seales claimed that her relationship with Rae became tense soon after that, and this allegedly led to her other co-stars shunning her.

"Everybody knows what's going on. They don't say nothing to me. And that's just f**king mean. It's mean," she continued.

Seales said things came to a boiling point when they were filming the series' final season. The actress alleged that Rae "came out of her face at me one time too many."

According to Seales, she never opened up about their alleged falling-out in the past because she believed that Rae's role as a major Black star in Hollywood was "very important."

However, she made it clear on the podcast that she was done protecting Rae.

"She wasn't empowering to me. She didn't feel like I was needed," Seales claimed of Rae. "She didn't feel like I deserved to be protected. I'm only giving a portion of the situation. But that was my experience. And nonetheless, I have still always protected her because I felt like it was my responsibility to do so. But it is not."

After the interview was released, Seales' comments quickly divided the internet.

Some social media users backed the actress and slammed Rae and her publicist over their alleged treatment of Seales.

"Issa Rae definitely dropped the ball in terms of good leadership, saying, 'That has nothing to do with me,' when one of your employees is going out of her way to create tension and isolate one employee from the rest absolutely has everything to do with you," one user wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

Another person tweeted, "Do I feel like Issa Rae is a bad person? Absolutely not. Do I think she was part of the mistreatment of Amanda Seales? Definitely..."

"I adore Issa Rae, but I also believe every word of what Amanda Seales said about her. It's not coincidental that these rumors took off immediately after the party incident," a third user commented, adding that Rae "absolutely had the power to squash [Seales] like a bug."

"You'd think Issa Rae, the writer [and] producer of 'Awkward Black Girl,' would notice a real life awkward Black girl when she was around Amanda Seales," another wrote, alongside a clip of Rae from "Insecure."

But others stood by Rae and expressed their support for her.

"I'll forever support Issa Rae!" one fan declared, while a second user insisted, "Y'all will NEVER make me dislike Issa Rae. Pack this topic up!"

"What y'all are not [going to] do is come for Issa Rae!" another fan wrote. "That woman has [created] spaces for the people she has hired to literally create a pipeline for up-and-coming black writers... Do not make me get malevolent."

Another user claimed, "Amanda self-diagnosing herself with autism and successfully garnering the hearts of the Black community with her grade school racism stories to create the perfect shield to make a poor attempt to make us dislike Issa Rae is A1 manipulation."

Tags

Issa Rae, Club Shay Shay