Angelica Ross has detailed an alleged dispute she had with Ryan Murphy over a "racist T-shirt" that was seen on the set of American Horror Story.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Ross recalled an incident from the set of the anthology series created by Murphy, in which she alleges that a crew member wore a number of shirts in support of then-president, Donald Trump, including one saying, "BUILD THAT WALL."
"I'm seeing this man with these shirts and I'm trying to focus, and when they say action, I just said, 'It's cut. I can't do this anymore.'" Ross recalled. "I got out of the car, I went into the [production] van, and said, 'I'm not coming out of this van until you handle the situation. Either he has to take that shirt off or turn it inside out, but this is not right.""
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Ross revealed that she had tweeted about the incident at the time, before saying she felt pressured to delete the post by the producers. She said she felt as if she had been "silenced."
"I said, 'OK, fine, I'll take down the tweet. But just so you know, I'm being told that this man wearing these T-shirts has freedom of speech, but I'm the one being told to take down a tweet. I feel like I’m being silenced,'" recalled Ross.
"Two seconds later, Murphy calls me directly – he was probably there for the whole conversation. He starts off not [with], 'Are you OK?' [or] 'What's going on?' He starts off: 'What's your f**king problem?! Are you serious? You think that I would f**king silence you after all I've done and I've been an advocate and done nothing but uplift trans Black women?'"
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"I've dealt with this before," added Ross. "This is not my first time at the rodeo of dealing with that energy of white people who think that they are doing good but won't check their own selves when someone Black or of the people they're trying to help is telling them, 'You have a blind spot.'"
Executive producer Tanase Popa, who was referenced by Ross as the figure who allegedly relayed the instruction to delete her tweet, provided a statement to The Hollywood Reporter in which he alleged that Murphy never swore at Ross during the incident.
"I was next to him," he said. "His assistant Sara Stelwagen was next to him and we did not hear him cuss at her or say, 'After all I’ve done for you, why would you do this?' He basically said, 'I don't understand why you would go to Twitter instead of coming to us.'"
The latest development follows Ross's claim that Murphy had "ghosted" her following the suggestion of an all-Black AHS season, as well as an accusation that co-star Emma Roberts had intentionally misgendered her.
American Horror Story airs on FX in the US and Disney+ in the UK, where seasons 1-9 are also available to buy on Prime Video.
Reporter, Digital Spy George is a freelance writer who specialises in Movies and TV. After graduating with a degree in Film Studies and Journalism from De Montfort University, in which he analysed the early works of Richard Linklater for his dissertation, he wrote for several websites for GRV Media. His film tastes vary from blockbusters like Mission: Impossible and John Wick to international directors such as Paolo Sorrentino and Hirokazu Kore-eda, and has attended both the London and Berlin film festivals.
