Issa Rae & ‘Insecure’s’ EP Prentice Penny Respond To Criticism Over Amanda Seales Wearing AKA Apparel On Show

Issa Rae & ‘Insecure’s’ EP Prentice Penny Respond To Criticism Over Amanda Seales Wearing AKA Apparel On Show

The highly anticipated fifth and final season of ‘Insecure’ premiered this past Sunday, Oct. 24, and the series is already dealing with criticism. As previously reported, actress Amanda Seales, 40, received backlash after her character, Tiffany DuBois, who is a member of the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority, wore a sweater that features the organization’s Greek letters. Following the premiere of the episode, fans debated if ‘Insecure’ crossed a line by having the actress wear letters from an actual Greek organization.

Amanda Seales is receiving backlash for wearing an AKA cardigan during the season premiere of #Insecure and she isn’t actually a member ??

Is it weird that they have her playing an AKA and she isn’t one in real life ? pic.twitter.com/WZKrVgXBPE

— Tea With Tia ?? (@_TeaWithTia) October 25, 2021

Prentice Penny, who is an executive producer/showrunner for the series, recently weighed in on the heated debate. The 46-year-old writer took to his Instagram stories and defended Amanda Seales. In part, he wrote,

“[Tiffany DuBois] is a character. On a TV show. Not a real AKA. Molly has been drinking out of an AKA mug since season 1. In 2016. Not one comment. We believed we were representing the organization in a positive light.”

He added,

“Our goal was to highlight and honor all the many facets of black women and that was one way we felt we could show that.”

Issa Rae, 36, also reacted to the conversation surrounding Amanda Seales and her character. She shared via her socials a clip from her former web series ‘Awkward Black Girl.’ In the scene, characters are having a discussion about how serious Greek life is after someone interrupts a step performance. She captioned the post,

“Ain’t s*** changed!”

“Ain’t shit changed!” pic.twitter.com/NxqvmKcAc2

— Issa Rae (@IssaRae) October 26, 2021

Amanda Seales isn’t the only ‘Insecure’ actor who found themselves in the hot seat recently. A Twitter user accused actor Jay Ellis, 39, of hiding the fact that his significant other is a white woman. They tweeted,

“Nah I just can’t get over I just know for a fact Jay Ellis publicist be telling him to keep his white wife off his Instagram page.”

Prentice Penny replied to the Tweet and said,

“Whoooo, I’m glad we ain’t coming back, cuz y’all…”

 

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He continued,

“Sometimes I just can’t with us.”

He also addressed fans’ previous requests for the show to be extended from 30 minutes to an hour.

“See this why we didn’t give y’all An hour. You’d just have 28 more minutes to pick us apart.”

What are your thoughts on this entire situation? Tell us below!