Todd Tucker is defending his new film Don’t Bring Your Man To Atlanta after a steamy promotional post involving Real Housewives of Atlanta star Shamea Morton and male entertainer Bolo sparked major backlash online.
Todd posted a provocative scene from the film featuring Shamea and joked, “I may direct the best sex scenes!”
He also shared a throwback RHOA clip involving Shamea and Bolo with the caption, “Shamea’s husband got pissed when he saw this scene with Bolo.”
That post quickly had fans talking, especially because Shamea’s husband, Gerald Mwangi, has previously expressed discomfort with her doing explicit on-screen acting.
Viewers felt the combination of the steamy movie promo, the Bolo throwback and Todd’s caption about Shamea’s husband being upset made the situation feel messy. Some fans accused Todd of using Shamea’s marriage for promotion, while others questioned whether the scene crossed a boundary considering Gerald’s past feelings.
The post has since been deleted. While others have reposted it.
After the backlash, Todd addressed the criticism in a video and made it clear that, from his perspective, people are reacting to a scripted movie scene.
“It’s a movie. People are acting,” Todd said.
Todd also explained that he discusses the role with actors before offering them a part, especially if the material includes sexual content.
“Before I offer a role, I discuss it with the actors, what it’s about, how it might be sexual nature. How there may be sex scenes. I go through all of that,” Todd said.
Todd pushed back on the idea that anyone was blindsided, saying the cast knew what they were signing up for before agreeing to participate in the project.
He also defended the film itself, telling viewers, “It’s acting,” and “it’s just a movie.”
Todd did not seem apologetic about the actual content. In fact, he doubled down by saying that if people think the sex scene is too much, they should see the movie. Other users were shocked that Shamea Morton would do that type of acting scene for a Todd Tucker film.
The backlash is especially interesting because Bolo has long been tied to one of RHOA’s most infamous storylines. His appearance during Cynthia Bailey’s bachelorette party became a huge talking point on the show, and the cast spent much of that season dealing with speculation about what allegedly happened after cameras went down.
Now, Todd using Shamea, Bolo and Gerald’s reaction as part of promotion has brought that old RHOA drama back into the conversation.