Photo: Kevin Mazur/VF23 / Contributor via Getty Images and Michael S. Schwartz / Contributor via Getty Images
  /  03.16.2023

“The Jason Lee Show” returned this week on Wednesday (March 15) for an extra special episode featuring comedian, actress, and writer Amanda Seales. In keeping with the show’s tradition, there wasn’t a topic left uncovered as the “Small Doses” author sat down with host Lee to set the record straight about several topics across love, work, and politics, including her brief feud with rapper DDG, time on “The Real,” thoughts on Vice President Kamala Harris, and much more.

The industry veteran is no stranger to making headlines and has often found herself amid controversy, usually because of something she said, which generally resulted in her feuding with Black Twitter. However, the 41-year-old told Lee, “I think sometimes I’m misunderstood because there’s this thought process for some people that if you benefit from any type of privilege, you really shouldn’t have s**t to say.”

However, Seales, who took ownership of her various “privileges,” said she believes the criticisms are par for the course, sharing, “I think that if you’re somebody who challenges, then by nature, you’re inviting people to challenge you.” Still, she admitted, “It took me a while to just kind of be comfortable with that reality.” As the host of her own eponymous syndicated radio program, “The Amanda Seales Show,” the multitalented star revealed she has finally gotten to a place where she is “backed by a larger company in my authentic voice.”

The writer reflected on seemingly having that opportunity during her brief stint as a co-host of the since-canceled daytime television talk show “The Real.” In 2020, Amanda Seales was brought onto the Daytime Emmy Award-winning series as a permanent cast member — or so she thought — following several guest-host appearances because they wanted her authentic voice. However, as she insisted, “That weirdly wasn’t what they wanted.” Seales’ journey on the panel alongside Adrienne Bailon-Houghton, Jeannie Mai, Loni Love, and Tamera Mowry-Housley lasted a mere six months.

Eventually, she’d open up about the exit during a conversation with comedian Godfrey on Instagram Live, where she claimed her spirit had been left broken after repeatedly being asked to “not to speak on certain things,” which, to her, “felt like a betrayal to my people.”

When asked about her thoughts on Loni, and whether allegations of “mean-girl” behavior were true, the actress steered away from the question and stated, “[Adrienne] and Jeannie are my girls” before taking a sip from her beverage. Seales made it clear that she did not want to discuss her former colleague, but noted, “Jeannie and Adrienne have been empathic supporters” since “day one at that show.” The famous actress added, “And to the point where even when the show was done, and there was a real weird omission of me, and people were like, ‘Wait. Why [is] Amanda not there?’… They made it their business to take their time to do an Instagram Live to be like, ‘No, that was not OK.’”

Seales said that kind gesture was vital, noting, “We live in such a visual medium of a world. We live in such a gossip-filled-in-the-blanks world that you just need people to actually just do the thing and say the thing.” She then pointed out, “Many folks aren’t willing to do that because of fear.” Later in the discussion, things took a messy turn after Lee gifted Seales a Mermaid doll he jokingly claimed was sponsored by DDG, a sly reference to one of the comedian’s many headline-making moments.

As some may remember, in 2022, Seales went viral after suggesting singer and songwriter Halle Bailey, who is set to star in Disney’s The Little Mermaid remake, dump the rapper after he appeared on VLADTV claiming to be unaware that racism still ran rampant in America. “I thought this s**t was gone. I thought Martin Luther King canceled this s**t out; that’s crazy,” he stated. The poorly timed remarks came amid racially charged discourse over Bailey’s casting in Disney’s upcoming film. Many fans of the classic animation were upset with a Black woman playing the role of Ariel.

Seales clarified that she did not “sound off” on the young couple, but was instead making a joke. “I just feel like certain things in certain spaces, you can’t joke like that ’cause they don’t really know,” she explained.

The “9 Lives” emcee had a few choice words for the longtime funny woman, who felt the “Black-ish” actress deserved more support. “Most importantly is that Halle’s in the middle of this, and that to me is the part that sucks,” she said in reaction to recent reports that claimed the rapper may have been unfaithful to the Disney princess. Seales continued, “Because ultimately, even when you’re a public figure, you really don’t want to have to deal with s**t like this publicly.” She also called out the popular misconception that, “Because you’re a celebrity, it’s your responsibility to have to deal with things like this publicly.” Seales joked, “Baby, I’m not an elected official. I don’t owe y’all that.”

Seeing the events of the singer’s relationship play out in the spotlight pained the Cop and a Half actress, who shared, “For me, it’s like just watching a young sister who’s in the business, who’s coming into her own, and then she’s publicly out here with this man, and now she gets embarrassed… it’s just… mmm.” She continued, “Now it’s like everybody’s talking about it… I don’t care how strong you are. I don’t care what your support system is, you can feel when everybody’s talking about you, and you want your partner to protect you.” Seales concluded her stance by stating she was not “reveling in the ‘I told you so’ because that’s not what it is.”

“There’s a whole business that’s now been made on other people’s lives, and there’s not enough regard that I think is taken for the fact that it really is a human being you’re talking about,” she added elsewhere.

Lee and Seales continued as they covered several more topics, including the actress withdrawing her support for Vice President Kamala Harris, who ruffled some feathers after co-signing Sen. Tim Scott’s statement that, “America is not a racist country.” Seales argued, “She can’t do that,” adding, “We have shooters that are going into places and killing people because of their race, and then we’re not calling it domestic terrorism.”

She added, “We have an entire culture of police that are killing Black people and getting away with it because the law says they can. We have a country that was 1,000 percent built on the foundation of racism, that now legislators are trying to pretend didn’t happen, and are getting that through, and doing it on an education level, and on a DEI level. You cannot, as the second in line to the highest form of office in this country, make a message on hope.”

Like always, if you liked what you heard, tune into new episodes of “The Jason Lee Show” every Tuesday on REVOLT’s TV channel at 10 p.m. ET as well as every Wednesday on our website, YouTube Channel, and app at 5 p.m. ET. Also, don’t forget to watch the latest installment with Amanda Seales here.

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