Amanda Seales tells me she knows there’s a large group of people who only hear from her when she’s saying something controversial, and based on my unscientific poll of my closest friends ahead of our virtual chat, she’s right. If you ask her why this is, she’ll blame social media algorithms. She’s less likely to trend or show up on aggregate pages such as The Shade Room when she’s saying something innocuous, she says. Instead, she’s more likely to become a headline when she’s sharing a controversial opinion or being brazen about the state of America.
When I tell my friends I’m prepping to profile the comedian and actress, they share their views of her as someone who is outspoken about important topics but also, maybe, a bit brash. Admittedly, I’ve thought this before, too. I’ve appreciated her frankness when she delivers soundbites such as “I think what annoys me most about white people is when they pretend that they’re the victim. What’s also annoying is when they, you know, when they kill us,” on Showtime’s series Everything’s Gonna Be All White. But I’ve also rolled my eyes when she tweets things like “If you're buying Jordans and Nike Suits but you don't have a PASSPORT, YOU'RE LOSING.”
