Actress Amanda Seales announced that she will not continue on as a co-host on Fox's "The Real," stating she did not renew her contract because of a lack of black voices "at the top."
"I have arrived because my contract is up at 'The Real' and I did not renew it because it doesn’t feel good to my soul to be at 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,” Seales told 'Hamilton' actor Brandon Victor Dixon during an Instagram live last Tuesday.
"I’m not in a space where I can, as a full black woman, have my voice and my coworkers 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 added that she had reached the point where she "just can't function at this place the same way."
"The Real," which features all women of color as its hosts, has been championed as one of the most diverse daytime talk shows and has been awarded two NAACP Image Awards and an Emmy. The show bills itself as "led by bold, diverse, and outspoken hosts" who "unapologetically say what women are actually thinking" and has risen in popularity since its debut in 2013. With more than 2 million followers on YouTube, "The Real" surpasses its competitors, including "The View," whose channel has approximately 900,000 subscribers.
Seales, who hosts the game show "Smart Funny & Black" and a podcast called "Small Doses," joined Loni Love, Tamera Mowry-Housley, Adrienne Bailon, and Jeannie Mai on the show in January 2020.
“Amanda is an excellent addition to our award-winning team at 'The Real,'" Donna Redier Linsk, the executive vice president and general manager of Telepictures, which produces the show, said of Seales joining "The Real" as a host. "Her unique voice at the table will add new dimensions to the conversation and, with the continued support of our partners at Fox, will guarantee a bright future for years to come."
Warner Bros. Television and Telepictures Productions declined comment.
"The Real" celebrated the airing of its 1,000th episode in February.
