Amanda Seales Quits ‘The Real’, Cites Disrespect of “Black Voices”

Amanda Seales is leaving Fox talk show The Real less than six months into her tenure. Seales broke the news on Tuesday during an Instagram Live discussion with actor Brandon Victor Dixon, and she explained that her contract was up and she opted not to renew it because of the disrespectful attitude on set. “The people at the top are not respecting the necessity for Black voices to be at the top, too” she said. “It doesn’t feel good to my soul.”

Last night, Seales sat down with Hamilton star Brandon V Dixon to discuss how to achieve “revolutionary change” for Black Americans, and the conversation eventually shifted to her own experience with racism on The Real. “You know what happened to me today,” she said. “I have arrived because my contract is up at The Real and I did not renew it.”

Seales said that there are issues with the environment at the Fox talk show. “[The Real is] a place where I cannot speak to my people the way they need to be spoken to, and where the people who are speaking to me in disparaging ways are not being handled,” she said. “I’m not in a space where I can, as a full Black woman, have my voice and my co-workers also have their voices.”

“So you reach a point — even when it just comes to Hollywood in general. You’ve seen me transform into a way where I just can’t function at this place the same way,” she told Dixon. “They’re planting white beans in my soil.”

Seales joined The Real in January 2020 as a replacement for Tamar Braxton. Braxton first announced her departure in 2016, but her seat remained vacant for years.

While Seales may have quit The Real, the actress and comedian told Dixon that she’s not concerned about finding other career opportunities. “I’ll find the bread in a manner that serves me,” promised the Insecure star.