UPDATED 11/1/2021, 5:35 p.m. ET: Alpha Kappa Alpha has responded to HBO’s Insecure series featuring the sorority’s merch on the show, Black Enterprise reports.
“We were made aware of the unauthorized use of our brand on the HBO show Insecure early yesterday morning (Monday, October 25, 2021) and are taking steps to protect our brand. Please allow the Corporate Office to handle this matter. We all have a duty to protect our brand.” Cynthia D. Howell, who is the Executive Director of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., reportedly said in a statement.
Howell continued, “You can do your part by refraining from engaging with anyone involved with the show or with anyone, including other sorors, on social media about this matter. Thank you for your continued assistance and cooperation.”
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Amanda Seales’ Insecure character Tiffany DuBois has long been a proud affiliate of the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority on the show, which is currently in its final season on HBO. Despite that history, some critics took issue with the character donning AKA’s letters on Sunday’s season premiere.
Former AKA sorors took to Twitter to air their grievances about the choice, which they found disrespectful since the sorority’s identity when it comes to its letters and colors is sacred to those who pledged. Seales, Issa Rae and the episode’s director, Melina Matsoukas, responded to the backlash.
“I don’t know why people keep asking me if I’m a soror,” Seales said in an Instagram video. “I am not a soror. Tiffany is a soror. Tiffany is a character on a TV show. I didn’t write the character. I played a character. I’m not a soror. I’m an actress and I’m playing a character on a TV show.”
Meanwhile, Rae tweeted, “Oh shit,” in response to someone who called the show out for its perceived AKA disrespect. “Let me tell @HBO to delete one of the upcoming episodes then, hold on.”
Matsoukas also offered her thoughts in a post to her Instagram story. “Not y’all coming for anyone else for my directorial decisions,” she wrote. “@AmandaSeales is an actress who so beautifully embodies a character. We costume her appropriately. That’s how film and TV work. So if you want to come for anyone I’ll take it. Just doing my job. Representing us and trying to do it authentically.”
Seales additionally posted to Instagram a collection of supportive posts from people who admittedly don’t like the actress, but stand by her in this current dispute. “When the internet makes people who dislike you take your side 😂,” she wrote.
This isn’t the first time the internet has kicked off bizarre conversations involving Insecure’s stars. Back in May, a woman on Twitter set off a firestorm of responses after she questioned Rae’s attractiveness. Rae responded to the woman by writing “Okay, but we look the same? The fuck?” It didn’t take long before fans flocked to defend the Insecure star by posting side-by-side photos of the two women and comparing their features.
The internet is a strange place.
