Amanda Seales & Issa Rae Fall Out: What Happened Between The "Insecure" Stars?

It’s been almost three years since HBO’s Insecure finished airing, and the critically acclaimed show continues spawning new fans. It is often named among the best comedy drama shows of the last decade, and rightly so. Its characters, and the actors who portrayed them, are also greatly loved by fans. However, it seems the chemistry and friendship some characters shared in the show does not exist in real life. For example, it’s been just about confirmed that Issa Rae and Amanda Seales are not the biggest fans of each other. Seales recently appeared in another viral episode of Shannon Sharpe’s Club Shay Shay. There, she spoke extensively about her and Issa’s failed friendship. 

On April 24, 2024, an episode of Club Shay Shay featuring Amanda Seales premiered on YouTube. In the interview, the actress spoke about several interesting topics. However, the subject getting the most attention is what happened between Issa Rae and Amanda Seales. The two were co-stars on Insecure and were friendly a few years ago. Surprisingly, however, over the years, their relationship soured as they worked together on the set of the hit show. Many fans have noticed a distance between the two for some time, but it has been all speculation until now.

According to Amanda Seales, the rift between her and Issa Rae was first made apparent in 2019. She narrated to Shannon Sharpe how Vanessa Anderson, Rae’s publicist, barred her from entering into an Emmys party for Black actors in 2019. Subsequently, two days later, the Insecure creator reached out to Seales. However, she allegedly only claimed not to have anything to do with what happened and asked if Seales was willing to talk to Anderson. 

“I’ve never talked about this publicly because it’s always been incredibly important to me to protect Issa,” Seales said. “However, there’s just been enough instances at this point where I should have been protected by Issa, and I wasn’t,” she continued. According to Seales, being so protective of Issa Rae was becoming detrimental to her. “There's a whole narrative that is completely false that people keep spinning. They keep saying, you know, that I'm this mean girl on this set, that I harmed these people on this set. 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. I don't even have the capacity to be the mean girl here because you can fire me,” she continued.

Unfortunately, the tension between the two actors only grew from that point onwards. Their relationship did not improve. Instead, it deteriorated to the point where other castmates could tell things weren’t great between them. “Everybody knows what's going on. They don't say nothing to me. And that's just f*cking mean. It's mean,” Seales said. Speaking further on the topic, she shared, “By the end of the show, you know, there were just certain scenarios where I had to really always be the bigger person and be the balm to the situation. And in Season 5, she just came out of her face at me one time too many and I just chose to stop being the balm because the show was wrapping.” When Sharpe asked Seales what she did, Seales replied, “Nothing, I just stopped communicating.”

Afterward, Sharpe mentioned that many people consider Issa Rae to be very empowering to women, but Amanda Seales disagreed. “She wasn't empowering to me. [Issa] didn't feel like I was needed. She didn't feel like I deserved to be protected,” Seales said. “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.”

Issa Rae has not commented on Seales's allegations at this time. However, fans are anticipating her reaction if it ever arrives.

[via]