Seal is responding to criticism and praise for his Instagram post in which he called out hypocrisy in Hollywood and used a photo of Oprah Winfrey and Harvey Weinstein to do so.
Despite reports that Seal seemed to insinuate that Winfrey knew about Weinstien's sexual misconduct, the "Kiss From a Rose" singer said in a video posted to Facebook Thursday that it's not true.
The Instagram post was that of a meme that had two photos of Winfrey posing with Weinsten. Text over the image read, “When you have been part of the problem for decades, but suddenly they all think you are the solution.”
"Oh I forgot, that's right…..you'd heard the rumours but you had no idea he was actually serially assaulting young starry-eyed actresses who in turn had no idea what they were getting into. My bad," Seal said in the caption of the Wednesday post.
Seal, who apologized for his delayed response to varied interpretations of his post, said he had the utmost respect for Winfrey and called out Fox News and Stacey Dash for their reporting on his comments.
"Let me start by saying that I have an enormous amount of respect for everything that Oprah has achieved and contributed in her life," Seal said in the video. "What I reposted was not an attack on Oprah at all. 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, so Fox News, back off."
He continued, “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. “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 and hashtag real talk for a second -- wall know what would happen to any one of those power abusers if they looked like me.”
Related: Seal calls out Oprah for being 'part of the problem' with Harvey Weinstein
Seal emphasized that he reposted a meme he saw on his feed and was not tearing down another black person, despite what one commenter said on his Instagram post.
“I am English born, but don’t get any of that ‘baby kiss from a rose’ stuff twisted. See these scars on my face? My parents are from Africa. More specificaly, Nigeria, and I am about as black as you will ever get,” he said.
Seal then turned his attention to Fox News and Dash.
“Fox News, don’t try and use me as a pawn against Oprah and in any of your political games, and, Stacey Dash, keep my name out of your mouth,” he said. “Do not retweet, requote 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.”
Credit: John Phillips
Credit: John Phillips
Seal ended his video by encouraging people to continue to come forward if they have been sexually abused or harassed, and applauded those who have come forward already. He called for others to hold accountable those who have harassed, assaulted or abused victims.
Watch Seal’s video message below.
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