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“I don’t know why people keep asking me if I’m a soror. I am not a soror,” Seales explained in her Instagram story. “Tiffany is a soror. Tiffany is a character on a tv show. I didn’t write the character, I played the character. I am not a soror. I’m an actress and I’m playing a character on a TV show. And I think reality tv done really got folks fucked up because, you know, it’s like: ‘it’s all the same.’ But I’m just playing a character. That’s it. Y’all know that though. But some of y’all dont. I feel like some folks really forget. It’s a tv show.”
She later clarified in a separate Instagram post: “I would be honored to be a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha but I simply am not. When I am Tiffany, I wear the letters with pride and regard and respect for those who did cross the burning sands.”Issa Rae also eventually responded to an upset user in the most Issa Rae-way possible on Twitter, writing: “Oh shit. Let me @HBO to delete one of the upcoming episodes then, hold on.”
Other notable figures and celebs also spoke out in support of Seales’ and her character. 2016 Root 100 honoree and cultural analyst Marc Lamont Hill wrote on Twitter: This @amandaseales / AKA thing is a non-controversy. If someone wears Greek letters but didn’t pledge, that’s a problem that should be handled in the way such matters are handled. But if an ACTOR is positively portraying a member of an org, which approves it, that’s different.”
Emmy-nominated actress Yvette Nicole Brown also shared her perspective as a member of the organization: I am a Silver Soror of @akasorority1908 and I had NO problem with how hard “Tiffany” reps my beloved AKA. & I feel @amandaseales’ pain in this. Folks think I’m Shirley. Folks CALL me Shirley. Shirley is a character on a TV show. She is not me & I am not her. #MakeBelieve.”
In addition to the online chatter about a non-Greek person wearing Greek letters, there was also a broader conversation of how networks are able to get away with using real life brands and imagery in their content. In a 2015 article from Business Insider that cited a similar scenario with HBO, its series Ballers starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, and NFL paraphernalia, legal experts determined that as long as trademarks and logos are “used as they were intended to be used, and do not disparage or tarnish it, there is no need to ask for permission.”
“It’s alright to say, ‘This Coca-Cola tastes awful,’” explained entertainment lawyer Michael C. Donaldson. “You can say, ‘I hate Coca-Cola.’ What you can’t say is something that misrepresents it, such as you drink a Coke and you drop dead and someone says, ‘That happens all the time.’”
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