Insecure actress Amanda Seales is finally ready to delve into her long-rumored feud with the show’s lead — and the series’ creator — Issa Rae.
During an appearance on Tuesday’s episode of Shannon Sharpe’s podcast Club Shay Shay, the 42-year-old actress and comedian declared that she was done ‘protecting’ Rae, 39.
Seales claimed that the Barbie actress refused to intervene when Rae’s publicist Vanessa Anderson allegedly kicked her out of an Emmy Awards afterparty for Black artists, despite presumably employing the woman in question and allowing Anderson to speak for her to the press.
The comedian claimed she was mystified at the animosity she allegedly attracted from Rae’s publicist, and she vehemently denied that she had ever been a ‘mean girl’ on the Insecure set.
DailyMail.com has reached out to Anderson and representatives for Rae for comment.
Amanda Seales, 42, opened on the Club Shay Shay podcast about her alleged feud with fellow Insecure star Issa Rae, 39
Seales claimed that the Barbie actress refused to intervene when Rae’s publicist Vanessa Anderson allegedly kicked her out of an Emmy Awards afterparty for Black artists, despite presumably employing the woman in question and allowing Anderson to speak for her; still from Insecure
‘I’ve never talked about this publicly because it has always been incredibly important to me to protect Issa. Because I know that Issa is doing something within this business that so few people get to do,’ Seales began early in a video clip of the conversation with Sharpe.
‘I’m not interested in getting a $100 million production deal. That’s not a life that I want for myself,’ she continued. ‘But I know that her role is very important.’
The conflict between Seales and Rae allegedly began in 2018 at the inaugural Black Emmys party, when she felt that Rae’s publicist Vanessa Anderson had been rude to her while she attended the event with Jill Scott.
Then she took the matter up with Rae, who employs Anderson.
‘I said to Issa, I don’t know what’s going on with your publicist, but she got something wrong,’ Seales recounted. ‘She got a problem with me. And she was like, “That’s between y’all.” And I said, “Well, it’s not really between y’all, because I don’t have a problem with her. But she seems to have a problem with me.” And she was like, “That’s none of my business.”‘
For the 2019 edition of the Black Emmys party, Seales claimed she was invited via text by Jesse Williams, but when she arrived everyone in her party was allowed to enter — except for her.
The former co-host of The Real claimed she was told that it was Anderson who had specified that she wasn’t to be let in, and after her friend — the actor Elijah Kelley — was shocked to see that she was left outside and invited her into the party, she claimed that she was forced to leave by four security guards.
She claimed that one of the men even assaulted her by bumping her with his chest when she had turned around to make a biting comment before being ushered out.
‘I’ve never talked about this publicly because it has always been incredibly important to me to protect Issa,’ Seales began, before saying she didn’t feel protected in return
Seales claimed she was thrown out of a 2019 Emmys party for Black artists on the orders of Rae’s publicist, who allegedly later told her on the phone that she didn’t like her
But when Seales repeatedly tried to speak to Rae about her publicist’s actions, Rae allegedly washed her hands of the dispute and said it was between Seales and Anderson; seen March 3
In addition to allegedly being ejected from the party, Seales claimed Anderson spread rumors about her designed to damage her career; seen in 2022 in Beverly Hills
Seales then alleged that Rae called her up days after she was ejected from the party, but not as an act of contrition.
‘She called me and said, “Hey, I heard what happened this weekend. I just want you to know I have nothing to do with it,”‘ she claimed Rae said, adding that the Insecure lead told her to speak directly to Anderson.
Seales allegedly followed up with a phone chat with Anderson, who allegedly confessed that she disliked Seales.
The Bring The Funny host claimed that Rae’s publicist subsequently spread rumors that she had caused an altercation at the Emmy’s party, leading her to be ejected, and she also allegedly spread rumors that Seales was about to be fired from Insecure, though she appears to have remained a main cast member through its fifth and final season.
Seales said she again reached out to Rae to try to resolve the issue and get Anderson off her back, but Rae wasn’t interested in getting in the way.
‘I said, “Listen, I am not saying that it’s going to be a problem on set, but I do think it is a problem that you don’t feel that you need to step in,”‘ Seales said. ‘And she was like, “Well, then we just have a difference in opinion. This is between y’all.”‘
Seales went on to say that the ‘narrative’ that she was a ‘mean girl’ on the set of Insecure was ‘completely false.’
She claimed that because Rae, the co-creator of the HBO series, had far more power than her on set and was higher up the chain of command, she couldn’t have been a ‘mean girl.’
‘I don’t even have the capacity to be the mean girl here ‘cause you can fire me,’ Seales said. ‘So, there’s no way for me to be a mean girl in this situation. And I know some people that may buck up against, like, the confirmation bias that they’ve created, but it simply is the truth.’
Seales added that after the alleged feud between her and Rae was widely publicized, members of the Insecure cast and crew began to ostracize her on set.
Seales disputed being a ‘mean girl’ on set, as she said Rae had far more power on set as the co-creator, so she could have been fired if she ran afoul of her or others
‘She wasn’t empowering to me,’ Seales said of Rae. ‘She didn’t feel like I deserved to be protected… And nonetheless, I have still always protected her because I felt like it was my responsibility to do so. But it is not’
When Sharpe mentioned Rae’s reputation for furthering female empowerment, Seales strongly disagreed.
‘She wasn’t empowering to me,’ she shot back. ‘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,’ she added.
Insecure aired for fives seasons from 2016 to 2021 on HBO, where it was regularly a hit with critics.
