Source: The Washington Post / Getty
After the highly anticipated season five premiere of Insecure, criticism from members of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc. drowned out any acclaim the show received. Amanda Seales’ character, Tiffany DuBois, is a member of the sorority on the show and was seen in the episode wearing actual AKA paraphernalia, which is an absolute no-no if you are not a member of that organization.
In response to what they saw, the executive director of the Divine 9 organization released a statement saying they will deal with this situation and encouraged members to not speak on it any further.
Dear Sorors:
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. 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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Seales responded to the backlash from AKAs on social media.
I don’t know why people keep asking me if I’m a soror. I am not a soror. Tiffany is a soror. Tiffany is a character on a TV show. I didn’t write the character–I play the character! I’m not a soror–I’m an actress! And I’m playing a character on a TV show. I think reality TV got folks f**ked up because 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 don’t. I feel like some folks really forget.”
As a member of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc., I understand why the AKAs are upset. The issue isn’t Seales wearing pink and green. The issue is her wearing actual paraphernalia with the shield and Greek letters of the organization. In the scene where they were all walking on Stanford University’s campus, Dubois had on a sweater with AKA going down one side and the AKA shield on the other side. Their shield and those letters have specific meanings that only members know and are not to be worn by people who are not members. It’s highly inappropriate and offensive for anyone outside of any Greek letter organization to wear our paraphernalia. Dubois being an AKA on the show is fine, but stylists must not cross the line of dressing Seales in paraphernalia with symbols and shields that Seales doesn’t know the meaning of and therefore cannot represent.
