Loni Love Speaks On Amanda Seales Leaving ‘The Real’ – Says ‘The Real’ Is “Not a Black Show”
Questions surrounding Amanda Seales’ decision to leave the FOX daytime talk show The Real after just six months still linger. Despite Seales explaining that her decision was her taking a stance on lack of diversity and censorship, many still believe her former co-hosts, namely Loni Love, contributed to Seales’ departure.
Love was accused of having Tamar Braxton fired from the show and feels the same heat toward her in the aftermath of Seales’ exit. Still, Love is holding her head high, letting the world know she supports Seales’ but wants viewers to know that The Real is not a “Black show.”
Amanda Seales quits ‘The Real’ after claims of censorship – fans speculate if Loni Love was involved
Seales revealed in an Instagram live chat with Brandon Victor Dixon that she was not renewing her contract on The Real. She accused the show’s producers of trying to censor her discussions on racism, which she refused to do.
Seales further explained her decision during an interview with Hollywood Unlocked and spoke of the climate and culture of the show behind the scenes.
I was on a show that on its core base is, ‘These are diverse women who are talking about things and keeping it real to a diverse audience.’ But in reality, it’s being run by a white woman who doesn’t have the connection to that experience and our topics are being picked by someone who doesn’t, our chat is produced by a white man who has a disconnect by simply his experience in the world from what we’re going to be addressing and we have executives all the way up that are all white women.
Amanda Seales, Hollywood Unlocked
Related: Amanda Seales Says Lack Of Diversity With Executives at ‘The Real’ Contributed To Her Exit
But fans felt that Love may have contributed to Seales’ exit, with one pointing out that they no longer followed each other on social media.
“Anyone else peeped that Loni Love and The Real unfollowed Amanda Seales,” they asked on Twitter.
Seales told Hollywood Unlocked that social media users were wrong and trying to instigate drama between her and her former co-hosts. In fact, Seales explained that all co-hosts were supportive of her.
Loni Love says she has no control at ‘The Real’ and that the show is not a “black show” but a “diverse show”
Love was previously accused of getting Tamar Braxton fired from the show in 2016. A former friend and co-worker of Love’s, comedian Cookie Hull, spoke with YouTube’s Comedy Hype and spoke of Love playing a part in Braxton’s firing. Hull said that Love showed her emails that Love sent to producers of the show, trying to have Braxton to be removed permanently while she was on medical leave.
Related: Fellow Comedian Says Loni Love Influenced Tamar Braxton’s Firing From ‘The Real’
Hull explained that Love wanted to be the only “ghetto” girl on the show and viewed Braxton as a threat. Braxton has been open that she too believes Love was a culprit.
Love did her best to clear her name. She put out videos explaining her side and spoke of such in interviews. She also invited Braxton to the show several times but nothing worked. In fact, Love says that looking back, her speaking up only backfired and led people to believe she was guilty. That’s why this time around, she’s remaining silent in terms of not speaking on Seales’ exit.
She told Bevy Smith during an interview on Smith’s podcast Bevelations, “What I learned from that whole situation when we got past Tamar was to let the process play itself out. And so that’s what I’m letting it do.”
Furthermore, while Love understands Seales’ decision to leave, Love says that viewers have to understand is that The Real has a formula that was curated by its creators of being a diverse show and not a “Black show.” Love hints that the idea that Seales wants to speak on race is possible but cannot be the overwhelming discussion.
“You have to remember the original purpose of ‘The Real.’ The original purpose of ‘The Real’ is that ‘The Real’ is not a Black show,” Love said. “It’s a diverse show. We need as many diverse voices as we can on air right now.”
Love also expressed a little frustration with viewers always pointing the finger at her when something goes awry. “It’s not my show, it’s the show of a studio and as you can tell now, there’s a lot of issues with studios and with people and all that kind of stuff so what I have to do as Loni is stay out of this and let the process play itself out.”
Smith responded that viewers hold Love to a certain standard because she’s viewed as the moderator of the show. Love appreciates such, but insists she has no decision-making power. She also expressed her support of Seales and thanked Seales for clarifying that she nor her other co-hosts contributed to Seales’ decision to quit the show.
