In a three-hour interview on Shannon Sharpe's latest episode podcast “Club Shay Shay” former NFL star interviewed actress and comedian Amanda Seales about everything from her recent autism diagnosis to her rumored feud with Issa Rae.
Many have criticized Sharpe since the episode was released on Wednesday, saying the host seemed to misinterpret Seales' perspective or misinterpret her comments on several topics she brought up. The conversation became tense throughout, with Sharpe apologizing to the actor at one point for appearing “combative.”
Seales, 42, said she had recently been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder and noted that Black women often go undiagnosed due to a lack of research on Black women and girls who are on the spectrum. She said that she has often felt misunderstood both by people she knows and strangers due to her neurodivergence.
“There are people who say things like, 'You're difficult, you're mean, you're unpleasant,' and you know you're none of those things,” he said.
Seales went on to explain her diagnosis and how it manifests for her, whether in her need to doodle when she's focused or in her tone of voice, which is often interpreted as harsh, but Sharpe didn't seem to understand.
“Just because you have a special gift doesn't mean you have a spectrum,” he said. “So you feel like just because your brain works differently that's what caused it or that there's a clinical diagnosis?”
Seales wrote that she felt Sharpe was “interrogating” her about her diagnosis in a instagram post on Friday, adding that he had “no love” for her while “pressuring” her to answer questions.
Another part of the conversation that sparked backlash was when Seales recounted an early experience she had with racism as a child, working as a dancer for a Christmas show at Walt Disney World. Acknowledging that the two had already disagreed in the interview, Seales prefaced her comments by saying, “While you'll probably have a problem with this, they were fucking racist.”
The “Insecure” star then described how she was the only black girl among 12 dancers and was bullied by the other kids, who called her a racial slur and said she was selected only because she was black.
“Is that enough for you as a racist or would you like to call it something else? “Is it just that children are bad?” she asked.
“Yes, they are children,” Sharpe said, and then asked her if she was a “model citizen” as a child. Seales sighed audibly in response, and Sharpe later said that children repeat what they hear from their parents and their environment and don't know that what they say is wrong.
The heated conversation sparked online chatter about Sharpe's interview tactics, with one fan writing about x (formerly Twitter) that you need to “try harder not to invalidate others' experiences with your own.”
Seales also discussed his relationship with his former collaborator Rae, the creator and star of “Insecure,” who was rumored to break up near the show's end in 2021. He said he had never spoken publicly about their relationship because Rae's role in Hollywood is “very important.”
After Sharpe said he had heard Rae's presentations were “empowering,” Seales said he disagreed.
“She didn't give me power,” he said. “She didn't feel like I deserved to be protected. “I'm only giving one side of the situation, but that was my experience and yet I have always protected it because I felt it was my responsibility to do so, but it is not.”
Since the podcast launched, Seales said in a instagram video in which she was surprised to see the support she received from listeners who praised her for her candor and for talking about her autism diagnosis.
“I'm so used to being vilified and misunderstood that seeing so many people finally listen to me has been cathartic,” she wrote.
