Angelica Ross has announced that she’ll be stepping away from Hollywood.
Over the last week, the Pose star has opened up about her challenging experience working with Ryan Murphy and the microaggressions she faced on the set of American Horror Story.
Ross starred in the ninth (1984) and tenth (Double Feature) entries of the long-running anthology series.
In one of her posts, the beloved trans activist revealed that the Glee creator ghosted her after he expressed interest in her idea of a Black women-led AHS season.
Alongside her statements, Ross included email screenshots of their initial exchange and her unanswered inquiries.
“After not hearing back. After sending flowers and no response, I sent one last email in Feb 2022 (it took about a year to film season 10 due to COVID) while still contractually in first position with the show,” she wrote on X.
In addition to her experience with Murphy, Ross opened up about Emma Roberts and her transphobic behaviour on the set of AHS: 1984 – including misgendering her and mocking her voice.
Days after sharing her truth on Instagram and X, the TransTech Summit founder announced that she was officially leaving Hollywood.
“For the folks who haven’t put it together yet, I’m “leaving Hollywood.” There are multiple articles that will be coming out detailing this,” she revealed on 21 September via X.
“So I suggest you and your faves play nice, cuz I’m a Black trans woman with nothing to lose. Candy was born from my body. IYKYK. IYDYD.”
As she mentioned in her post, Ross gave further insight into her decision during an in-depth interview with The Hollywood Reporter, released on 22 September.
For the folks who haven’t put it together yet, I’m “leaving Hollywood”. There are multiple articles that will be coming out detailing this. So I suggest you and your faves play nice, cuz I’m a Black trans woman with nothing to lose. Candy was born from my body. IYKYK. IYDYD.
— A N G E L I C A (@angelicaross) September 21, 2023
“It’s sort of a “Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me” situation. I thought Ryan Murphy was going to be my champion. I thought he understood,” she explained.
Elsewhere in the interview, Ross gave details about encountering racism on the set of AHS before detailing a crewmember who wore shirts like “BUILD THAT WALL” and “I DON’T KNEEL”.
“This guy had a collection. I started speaking up about it,” she added.
Ross also opened up about the apology phone call she received from Roberts – which she described as “a bumpy conversation”.
“She apologised, and she said, ‘I hate that you walked away from our experience together feeling like that. I see in hindsight what I did and how stupid that was. I’m an ally.’ I was like, ‘No, you’re not. You can’t call yourself an ally. [Allyship] is an action,'” she revealed to the publication.
“[I said] ‘You need to be real with me in this conversation. I’m being real with you. You were being messy.'”
While their conversation was intense, Ross admitted that she wasn’t surprised when Roberts called, stating: “The truth of the matter is, I know Emma’s got big balls. I’ve seen them on set… this girl is no damsel in distress, ever.”
As for her future, the beloved activist revealed that she’ll be shifting her focus to politics, with a plan to run for office in the state of Georgia.
“I go into candidate and campaign training next month,” she said. “So I’m fully walking away from Hollywood. But I’m always going to be who I am. You don’t have to be on TV to be a creative person, to live a creative life.”
Check out Ross’ full interview here.
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