Over the weekend, Amanda Seales took to social media to share her immediate thoughts on what the FBI has called an assassination attempt on the former President of the United States, Donald Trump.
The comedian and activist shared a now-deleted video on her Instagram, talking through what she thought about the footage of the attempted assassination. “That was more staged than a Tyler Perry production of ‘Madea Runs for President,’” she said at the top of the clip, saying that she, “Lived in Harlem long enough to know gunshots do not sound like making popcorn on the stove.”
She went on to say that in theater and entertainment, blood pellets are often used. “People used them at Halloween,” she explained. “It’s basically a pellet of fake blood that’s in your mouth and when you crush it blood comes out.”
She added that in her view, if an attempt was made on his life, he, “would not respond by raising his fist in the air triumphantly.” Naturally, her shocking comments received a lot of heat online.
Seales has since posted other videos as more information has trickled in regarding the attempt, saying, “turns out it was real, ya’ll.” In the comments of her posts, many of her followers share similar sentiments, questioning the attempt’s legitimacy and speaking of distrust in the government in general.
Her statement led to major reactions on the internet, with DJ Akademiks talking about it on a live video stream. “Like some of y’all are so glued into whatever political view y’all have, y’all dismiss reality,” he said in the stream, before calling her an expletive. “B*tch, wake up. There’s a f*cking whole investigation by the FBI outside in Butler. Drive over there and go see if they’re investigating staged sh*t.”
Many on the internet were not happy with Akademiks comments, specifically the way he was speaking about and to a Black woman. One user wrote, “Time and time again, this man just comfortably disrespects black women, but with black men it’s never the same energy.”
Some people were not necessarily in disagreement with Seales’ opinion, but in the way that she shared it. A user wrote, “Tr*mp almost gets s*ot. Black Twitter: memes, jokes & videos saying that they think it was staged - without saying it was staged. Amanda Seales out loud: that sh*t was staged!”