Amber Riley has refused to add further fuel to the fire following the backlash against her former Glee co-star Lea Michele, who has been accused of making another black actor’s time on the show a “living hell”.
Michele’s social media post about #BlackLivesMatter sparked a backlash after Glee’s Samantha Marie Ware alleged that she was guilty of disturbing “micro aggressions” towards her.
“LMAO REMEMBER WHEN YOU MADE MY FIRST TELEVISON GIG A LIVING HELL?!?!” Ware tweeted. “CAUSE ILL NEVER FORGET. I BELIEVE YOU TOLD EVERYONE THAT IF TOU HAD THE OPPORTUNITY YOU WOULD ‘S— IN MY WIG!'”
LMAO REMEMBER WHEN YOU MADE MY FIRST TELEVISON GIG A LIVING HELL?!?! CAUSE ILL NEVER FORGET. I BELIEVE YOU TOLD EVERYONE THAT IF TOU HAD THE OPPORTUNITY YOU WOULD “SHIT IN MY WIG!” AMONGST OTHER TRAUMATIC MICROAGRESSIONS THAT MADE ME QUESTION A CAREER IN HOLLYWOOD… https://t.co/RkcaMBmtDA
— SAMEYAAAAAA (@Sammie_Ware) June 2, 2020
Michele has since issued an apology on Instagram, stating, “I clearly acted in ways which hurt other people.”
Fans were convinced that Riley would join the growing number of black Glee actors, including Alex Newell, who came out in support of Ware’s statement, particularly after the actress posted a series of humorous GIFs – including one of herself sipping tea.
However, on Wednesday she made it clear that she had bigger concerns amid the recent protests against police brutality, stating, “I don’t give a s***. People are out here dying, being murdered by police.”
During an Instagram Live interview with journalist Danielle Young, the Glee actor stressed that she was not “going to say that Lea Michele is racist”. She later added that she had “no hatred” for Michele, and that this was the “first and last time” she would address the backlash.
However, she did express support for Ware, adding that she was “very proud” of her for speaking out and “standing up for herself”.
“I am proud of her not being fearful for speaking her truth … [Her] feeling was, ‘I am not going to allow you to jump on what is happening now when you didn’t treat me right”.”
She also spoke more broadly about the black experience in Hollywood, and how she and other people of colour in the acting community are often told that they are “expendable”.
Riley continued, “There were a lot of black actors and actresses that were in my inbox telling me their stories and were letting me know that they have dealt with the same things, being on set and terrorised by the white girls that are the leads of their show.
“We all know that a person of colour and a black person is always the sidekick, it’s always number three, four, five, six or seven on the call sheet. Very rarely are they number one if it’s not an all-black cast.”
from Radio Times https://ift.tt/2U84urm
