Source: Matt Winkelmeyer / Getty
Last week as many of us were forced voluntarily or involuntarily exposed to the tragic death of Ahmaud Arbery with the video release of his last moments, the hosts of The Real gathered to record an episode of their popular daytime show.
However, the mood turned solemn as host Amanda Seales revealed that she had just watched the video capturing Arbery’s death.
“I’m not good. By the time this airs, I hope that something has been done. I just saw the video of the 25-year-old man, Ahmaud Arbery, in Georgia. And they have video of him being gunned down by these two white men with guns that felt he was running in their neighborhood, and they needed to go take him out. “And they have video of it! They have video of them taking this young man’s life! And he’s literally just jogging through the neighborhood! And they cut him off with their truck, and he’s running, and they shoot him in his stomach!” Seales says through tears while her co-hosts react in horror.
“And he’s trying to keep running, and he falls to the ground.”
Arbey was shot and killed on February 23 in a Brunswick, Georgia, neighborhood during a routine jog. And while we are seeing the video of Seales reaction this week, her words did come to fruition. The two men involved in the shooting Gregory and Travis McMichaels, have been arrested as newly appointed prosecutor Joyette Holmes gathers evidence to take the case before a grand jury.
Seales had a much lighter tone in a viral in a video of her dragging Justin Timberlake with a song over turning off his comment section under an Instagram post about Arbery. But in the conversation with her hosts, Seales explained why she uses The Real as a platform to advocate for Black lives.
“…I sit here everyday on this show and I go in our comments, and I see people say, ‘Why does she always talk about race? Why do we always talk about Black people?…Why can’t we just sit up here and have a good time?’ Because things like this are actually happening! I feel crazy! I feel crazy right now! And we’re gonna sit here and do a show right now, and I just saw the most horrific thing I may have ever seen in my life!”
