The fallout from Insecure star Amanda Seales claiming that she doesn’t feel supported by or welcomed into Black spaces on Instagram back in March, after not securing an invite to the NAACP Awards, is continuing. A recent article challenging why she may be feeling that way was published by The Grio, and it set Amanda off.
The article is the third one published by a fairly large-sized publication that explores Amanda’s ego and likeability (or lack thereof) after she made her Instagram video. In response to the latest article, she posted this video of her arguing into the camera, against the backdrop of the piece, firing off inaccurate claims that are working in three ways: bringing a lot of unwarranted hate to the writers of these articles, worsening the ongoing speculation surrounding her and heightening how polarizing she is.
Despite Amanda not naming the author, her name was very visible in the background of the video, making her an easy target for stans who felt the need to unleash cruel remarks to her over social media. According to Monique Judge, the author of the latest piece, Amanda’s fans have filled her comment section with insults, which made good on their promises to Amanda that they would harass Monique, which Amanda has not discouraged, by the way.
In addition to weaponizing her audience and fanbase to do some truly nasty work, Amanda was extremely othering of the writers who penned the pieces. Despite these writers being the Black women that Amanda claims to love and admire and work for, she referred to them as “you people” throughout the video and went on to say that they were “continuing to attempt to break [her] down,” and that she was “loved, anointed and working through the blood of our ancestors.”
Nothing in any of the pieces I read appeared to be an attempt at breaking Amanda down, but rather encouraging of her doing some introspection about why the public reaction to her is in the state that it is. I mean, these are people whose job it is to write. They are opinion pieces and each one I read had the disclaimer at the top of the piece. It appeared to be sisterly advice on self-improvement, if anything. Who is trying to break you down?
It's a fair question, considering that her language, way more than anyone else’s, had the power to actually break someone down. Because at the end of her video, she delivered this very insulting, very coded language, saying that the writer of the most recent article, and likely alluding to the writers before Monique, are “so broken” and only after some clout.
I think this is the problem people encounter when trying to decide how they feel about Amanda. It can be difficult to vouch for someone who is often guilty of what she accuses others of. In this case, she’s claiming that she’s under attack, meanwhile she’s using her considerable platform to slam a writer, a Black woman at that, who wrote an opinion piece about very loud and public claims Amanda made in the first place, and has repeatedly doubled down on since making. Is she not expecting this to be a topic of conversation? Is she truly expecting that every single person who heard her claims would just…agree?
To me, an unwillingness to be challenged is one of many examples of the superiority complex Amanda has. But part of having a superiority complex often means concealing actual feelings of failure and inferiority – and I’m not sure Amanda has any feelings of failure or inferiority. That’s the issue. She holds herself in such high regard that she assumes the only way for these women to “get clout” is to write about her. Mind you, these are women who are university educated and have had very successful careers as writers. But rather than acknowledge and respect that, she views herself as some sort of meal ticket.
Even in her video, Amanda made contradicting, condescending claims about Black people and her love for them. At one point, she suggests that part of the reason she gets so much flack is because Black people have “literally never felt love that much and don’t know how to process it”, referring to her “passion” and admiration for the Black community. What? Is she really suggesting that she is the first person to come around and show some love to Black people, in this very strange way, I should add? To top it all off, in the beginning of the video, she asks what hubris she has – and puts it on full display for duration of it.
To answer her question, though, Amanda’s got hubris. Tons of it. And she’s proven it on many occasions, like when she took issue with Samaria Rice, the mother of the slain teen Tamir Rice, asking that Shaun King, an activist embroiled in some controversy, not to fundraise in the name of her dead son. Amanda was of the belief that Shaun’s fundraising would benefit the Rice family. Even if it did, who is she to tell a grieving mother what she can and can’t be comfortable with, and what she can ask of people tying themselves to the name of her slain son? There have been countless instances of Amanda displaying this kind of behaviour in which she knows best.
Amanda keeps attempting to be the everyday freedom fighter, but continually ensures she is untouchable, in the sense that anyone who doesn’t completely throw themselves behind her work or her message might be labelled as someone trying to tear her down. It discourages people from even discussing her, because when they do, if it is not in her favour, they find themselves the target of undesirable treatment from her and her fans.
“Big up to all my strong Black women that are supporting other strong Black women and every other person supporting us. We love you and the rest of y’all can suck a…”
That’s how she decided to end her video. By insinuating that the writers – and anyone else for that matter – who had the nerve to challenge her claims or encourage her to turn inward, can suck a dick.
So perhaps when Amanda questions or explores why so many people in Black Hollywood are not welcoming to her, what is needed is exactly what these writers have prescribed – which is for her to turn inward and ask that question. But because she is incapable of doing that, she will continue to confuse being an outsider with a person who has put themselves out on the front doorstep.
