Amanda Seales Reacts to Rumors She Was a 'Mean Girl' on 'Insecure' Set

Amanda Seales is pushing back on claims that she was rude to her fellow Insecure cast members on set.

In a new interview on the Club Shay Shay podcast, the 42-year-old actress reacted to whispers that she was a bully while the hit HBO series was filming. She claimed that the entire situation was made up and said it's not even possible as she could easily have been thrown out to the building for bad behavior.

"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," Seales told the show's host, Super Bowl champion Shannon Sharpe.

"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. "There's no way for me to be a mean girl in this situation."

The allegations of rude behavior stem from a 2019 incident, in which she was kicked out of an Emmys party by Rae's publicist, Vanessa Anderson, which Seales immediately addressed in her podcast at the time, per BET. The actress said that she and Anderson had never gotten along and that while she was humiliated to be escorted out by security, it hurt more that her co-stars did not step in.

"I'm also seeing people seeing this happen and they're doing nothing," Seales said in her audio series. "If I saw this happening to someone else, I would have been all up in that s**t."

The tables quickly turned, however, when her Insecure co-star, Sarunas J. Jackson, tweeted and then deleted a message providing context of the entire ordeal.

"You can't be a disrespectful a*s human being and expect people to want to hang out with you," he tweeted, according to the outlet. "It's quite simple. Sit it out."

In the new interview, Seales -- who previously addressed the concept of mean girls in a 2023 episode of her Small Doses podcast -- added that she understands some may find it hard to believe because of their "confirmation bias," but that she swears her side of the story is the truth.

During the candid chat, Seales also addressed a reported fallout between her and the 39-year-old writer, director and actress who helmed the five-season comedy. Seales says that Rae did reach out to her following the 2019 incident but refused to intervene, even as she accused Anderson of running a "smear campaign" against her.

"So I said, you know, 'Listen, I am not saying that it's going to be a problem on set, but I do think it is a problem that you don't feel that you need to step in.' And she was like, 'Well, then we just have a difference in opinion...this is between y'all,'" Seales said.

Seales added that when it came to the production of her own TV show, Get Your Life -- which Rae's media company produced -- the Barbie actress did not offer the support, guidance or promotion that it deserved. Despite her grievances, Seales said she still maintained a solid relationship with the comedian as she felt the need to "protect her" and what she was doing for other Black artists in Hollywood.

That relationship has since soured, though, and Seales did not mince any words for her former boss and co-star.

"She wasn't empowering to me. She didn't feel like I was needed," Seales said. "She didn't feel like I deserved to be protected. 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."

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