Abdullah Saeed (born May 18, 1984) is a

Pakistani-American Pakistani Americans () are citizens of the United States who have full or partial ancestry from Pakistan, or more simply, Pakistanis in America. They can be from different ethnic groups in Pakistan like Punjabis, Punjabi or Muhajir people, Muhaj ...

writer, producer, composer, and journalist. He produced and hosted several TV shows and documentaries for

Vice A vice is a practice, behaviour, Habit (psychology), habit or item generally considered morally wrong in the associated society. In more minor usage, vice can refer to a fault, a negative character trait, a defect, an infirmity, or a bad or unhe ...

Career

Saeed began his career as a music journalist specializing in hip hop and electronic music. He has interviewed

DJ Shadow Joshua Paul Davis (born June 29, 1972 in San Jose, California, San Jose, California), better known by his stage name DJ Shadow, is an American DJ and record producer. His debut studio album, ''Endtroducing.....,'' was released in 1996. He uses l ...

El-P Jaime Stuart Meline (born March 2, 1975), better known by the stage name El-P (shortened from his previous stage name El Producto), is an American rapper, songwriter, and record producer. Starting his career as a member of Company Flow, he has ...

, and

Flying Lotus Steven Ellison (born October 7, 1983), better known as Flying Lotus or sometimes FlyLo, is an American record producer, DJ, filmmaker, and rapper. He has released seven critically acclaimed albums: ''1983'' (2006), ''Los Angeles'' (2008), '' Co ...

, among others. He wrote a weekly online column called Weediquette from 2012 to 2014 and produced and hosted the first episode of the web series of the same name. His works include the

James Beard Award The James Beard Foundation Awards are annual awards presented by the James Beard Foundation to recognize chefs, restaurateurs, authors and journalists in the United States. They are scheduled around James Beard's May 5 birthday. The media awar ...

-nominated series ''

Bong Appétit ''Bong Appétit'' is a television series produced by Viceland. The series debuted in 2016. According to NJ.com, Abdullah Saeed "hosts extravagant cannabis dinners featuring chefs that are famous in the cannabis community for their expertise." T ...

'', for which he also composed the theme song, and the limited series ''Vice Does America'' on

Viceland Viceland (stylized in all caps; also known as Vice TV in the United States) is a brand used for television channels owned and programmed by Vice Media. The brand launched on February 29, 2016, with two cable channels in North America. The Vice ...

, as well as the

Webby Award The Webby Awards (colloquially referred to as the Webbys) are awards for excellence on the Internet presented annually by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, a judging body composed of over three thousand industry experts a ...

-winning documentary ''Mad Honey''. Saeed stopped making content for

Vice Media Vice Media Group LLC is a Canadian-American digital media and broadcasting company. Vice Media encompasses four main business areas: Vice Studios Group (film and TV production); Vice TV (a joint venture with A&E Networks, also known as Vicelan ...

in protest in 2017 in the wake of allegations that Vice tolerated an abusive workplace culture and sexual harassment, and their practice of making employees sign “non-traditional workplace agreements” to protect themselves from being sued by employees for issues arising from said workplace culture. In 2019, Saeed was recognized by the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...

Television and Radio Association for his investigative reporting for

KCRW KCRW (89.9 FM broadcasting, FM) is an NPR member station broadcasting from the campus of Santa Monica College in Santa Monica, California, where the station is licensed. KCRW airs original news and music programming in addition to programming ...

on "seshes" or underground cannabis markets in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. Saeed is a former member of

The Kominas The Kominas are a punk rock band formed in 2005 by two Pakistani-Americans from Worcester, Massachusetts Worcester ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Massachusetts, second-most populous city in the U.S. state of Massachusetts and the li ...

and Sunny Ali & the Kid, and a current member of the band GOD$. He was a writer and actor on the

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

series

High Maintenance ''High Maintenance'' is an American anthology comedy-drama television and web series created by ex-husband and wife team Ben Sinclair and Katja Blichfeld. The show follows The Guy, a cannabis courier (played by Sinclair), as he delivers his p ...

and co-wrote a film with Ben Sinclair for

Fox Searchlight Searchlight Pictures, Inc., formerly known as Fox Searchlight Pictures, is an American arthouse film production and distribution company, which since 2019 is owned by Walt Disney Studios, a division of the Disney Entertainment segment of the ...

and

New Regency New Regency Productions is an American-British-Luxembourgish entertainment company formed by Arnon Milchan. It was founded in 1991 as the successor to Regency International Pictures (formerly known as Embassy International Pictures N.V.). Hist ...

. In 2022,

Onyx Collective Onyx Collective is a content brand owned and operated by Disney Entertainment, which primarily consists of projects from creators of color and other underrepresented groups. The brand was first launched on May 17, 2021, with several projects un ...

ordered Saeed's pilot '' Deli Boys'', starring Asif Ali, Saagar Shaikh,

Alfie Fuller Alfie Fuller is an American actress best known for her work on seasons four and five of '' The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel''. She is a main cast member on the Hulu comedy series '' Deli Boys''. Career Fuller has an MFA from the New School for Drama. ...

, and

Poorna Jagannathan Poorna Jagannathan ( ; born December 22, 1972) is an American producer and actress. She is known for her portrayal of Safar Khan in the HBO drama miniseries '' The Night Of'', as well as for her role as Nalini Vishwakumar in the Netflix teen come ...

. It was picked up to series in May 2023.

Views

Saeed is an advocate for cannabis liberalization and education. He describes his family as "pretty liberal and open minded”.

Personal life

Saeed was born in

New Hampshire New Hampshire ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

to a Pakistani family. He grew up in

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

, where his father worked at a college campus, and his mother is a nurse. He speaks both English and

Urdu Urdu (; , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the Languages of Pakistan, national language and ''lingua franca'' of Pakistan. In India, it is an Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of Indi ...

. He is married to Alexandra Ruddy.

Filmography

Television

References

External links

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Official Instagram
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saeed, Abdullah 1984 births Living people American cannabis activists American expatriates in Thailand American people of Pakistani descent American television hosts American television producers Male actors from New Hampshire