Glee star Amber Riley says she doesn't care about Lea Michele drama
Glee star Amber Riley doesn't give a "s***" about the recent controversy surrounding co-star Lea Michele.
On Monday (June 1), actress Samantha Marie Ware accused Michele of making her time on Glee a "living hell," which prompted other cast members to share a similar take.
However, during a recent Instagram Live interview, Riley declared that there are bigger issues going on in the world right now, saying: "I don't give a s***. People are out here dying, being murdered by police."
Pressed on the matter, Riley said that she wasn't "going to say that Lea Michele is racist," but she did admit that Glee was "not the most comfortable environment" to work in, and was glad that Ware spoke out.
"I'm very proud of her for standing up for herself," Riley said during the interview. "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.'"
Riley also shared that, in addition to Ware, numerous Black actors and actresses had reached out to her to share their horrifying experiences in the industry.
She also shared her own experience of being told she was "expendable" on the set of Glee, while the white female leads used their privilege to "terrorise" their co-stars.
"The stories I'm reading about how white women are using their privilege and the fact that they are not fireable, something that I was told once on set after having my own complaint," she said. "They know that they are not fireable and they use that privilege to terrorize their counterparts. These networks don't have to give a f***."
"We were even told, we were expendable, Riley continued. "The coloured girls, the Black girls, are expendable. "I'm talking about the culture of Hollywood right now and how they treat black characters, black men, black women. I’m talking about the culture."
Explaining that this was the first and last time she'd discuss the controversy surrounding Michelle, Riley said that she hadn't read her subsequent apology and that she hadn't spoken to her for two years until the actress reached out to her this week.
"I wish Lea Michele well, I hope that she has an amazing pregnancy, I hope that she has grown," said Riley. "That [statement] she put out, I didn’t read it because I told y’all I don't give a s*** about it.
"She reached out to me, I responded to her and that’s where it ends for me. I ain’t talk to that girl in two years. I have no hatred or ill will on that end."
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