The fifth and final season of HBO’s hit show Insecure recently premiered to a major controversy.
The controversy concerned character “Tiffany DuBois” played by actress Amanda Seales who wore the official letters and copyrighted shield of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc.
We spoke to three members of the Divine 9; a group of historically black fraternities and sororities which includes the AKAs to see how they felt about the controversy. Some understood the backlash and others did not see much of a problem.
Here’s Sultan Muhammad, a member of Iota Phi Theta Fraternity Inc.
“Had it been a man wearing my fraternity’s letters it wouldn’t have bothered me because I know that it’s just a role he’s playing, it’s not an attempt to be disrespectful.”
Muhammad says he can’t tell the AKA’s how to feel but, he points out that it’s a television show where actors are being paid to portray characters
Some Divine 9 members were more understanding of the backlash and even happy it wasn’t their letters that had been used on the popular tv show.
Shanice Bryant, a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc., says that letters mean much more than your average logo.
”I think it offended people of AKA or in other sororities because they see it as something we work towards that we pay for that has so much more embodiment than just wearing it as a label.”
Bryant also says the actresses that have been established as AKAs feed into the problem.
“So to have a nonmember where it is kind of like they make a mockery of it, and also they fuel into the stereotype of, Oh AKAs, look like this. They act like this they talk like this in the careers that they’re in. So I can understand why they were upset”
Miki Turner, a professor at USC and a member of the AKA’s, looked at history to explain why she wasn’t phased.
“I didn’t really kind of understand. Because She’s like a tv character they do this all the time, they’ve done this on a different world back in the 80′s nobody ever really complained so I didn’t really understand that whole thing.”