‘It doesn’t feel good to my soul’

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Amanda Seales announced that she is leaving her role as a co-host of The Real. The show, which airs on Fox-affiliated stations, is co-hosted by Adrienne Bailon, Loni Love, Jeannie Mai, and Tamera Mowry.

On Instagram Live, Seales told actor Brandon Dixon on Tuesday that she decided not to renew her contract with the show.

“I didn’t renew it, because it doesn’t feel good to my soul to be at a place where I can not speak to my people the way they need to be spoken to and where the people that are speaking to me in disparaging ways are not being handled,” Seales explained.

Amanda Seales Says Her Contract With ‘The Real’ Is Up And She Didn’t Renew It! pic.twitter.com/Oc12tC8shd

— THE NEIGHBORHOOD TALK (@TNHTalk) June 2, 2020

On Twitter, fans are supporting Seales’ departure. One poster said that she was “too real for The Real.”

Amanda Seales was too REAL for the real pic.twitter.com/u35u9HuXKl

— 𝔪𝔲ñ𝔢𝔠𝔞✨ (@Disgabilondon) June 3, 2020

The actor/comedian implied that there needs to be more Black leadership at the highest levels of the network and the show. “I’m not at a space where as a Black woman, I can have my voice and my co-workers also have their voices and where the people at the top are not respecting the necessity for Black voices to be at the top too.”

Seales had been with the show for six months and provided a voice that dug deeper into issues of race and politics.

Supporters said that The Real was not the right platform for Seales, who has a Master’s degree in African American Studies, “I love all the ladies,” one Twitter user wrote, “I hope she’ll get her own show because she is VERY important for the youth. Black consciousness will never be boring.”

Seales is currently still a cast member of the hit HBO show, Insecure, and is the author of Small Doses: Potent Truths for Everyday Use which was released late last year. She also hosts a podcast by the same name.

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