Seal: Oprah Meme Was Commentary on Hollywood Hypocrisy
Seal posted a video message on Facebook explaining why he shared a viral meme that showed Oprah Winfrey kissing Harvey Weinstein on the cheek. The meme read: “When you have been part of the problem for decades, but suddenly they all think you are the solution.”
Seal’s original caption on the meme read: “Oh I forgot, that’s right … you’d heard the rumors but you had no idea he was actually serially assaulting young [starry]-eyed actress who in turn had no idea what they were getting into. My bad. #SanctimoniousHollywood.”
The R&B singer said that his intention was to show the hypocrisy of Hollywood, not to single out Oprah or diminish her achievements. “What I reposted was not an attack on Oprah at all,” Seal said in the recent message. “She just happened to be the person photographed with the pig in the picture. No, what I reposted was commentary on the hypocritical and double standard nature and behavior of Hollywood.”
Seal further explained that despite the publicity around the #MeToo movement, he felt sexual assault victims have not yet received adequate support or justice.
“To those of us who support the Me Too movement, just know this: Not one of the women who have been sexually abused, not one of the women who have come forward has received any real justice whatsoever,” he said. “Losing your job because you either a) raped b) sexually abused or even sexually harassed a woman is not real punishment. You steal from the post office, you go to jail. Real talk for a second. We all know what would happen to any one of those power abusers if they looked like me.”
Seal also admonished Fox News and former contributor Stacey Dash for interpreting his Instagram post as anti-Oprah.
“Stacey Dash, keep my name out of your mouth,” Seal said. “Do not retweet, re-quote anything I have said in order to reinforce your self-hating agenda. You live in the sunken place. Again, this was not an attack against Oprah. This was an observation of the toxic nature of Hollywood, and I believe that a conscious people are a progressive people.”