‘American Horror Story’ stars Angelica Ross (left) and Emma Roberts.Photo:Deonté Lee/BFA.com/Shutterstock; Araya Doheny/Getty
Deonté Lee/BFA.com/Shutterstock; Araya Doheny/Getty
Angelica Rossis opening up once more about her experience working withEmma RobertsonAmerican Horror Story: 1984.
Ross, whocame forward with allegationsearlier this week that Roberts made a transphobic comment on the set of theRyan Murphy-led FX series but later apologized, elaborated further about their working relationship in a new interview withThe Hollywood Reporter, published on Friday.
During the interview, Ross, 42, claimed that Roberts, 32, took charge on the set of1984,calling her “the boss” of the anthology series.
“She had her trailer outside of the sound studio, not where all the other trailers were,” Ross explained. “She made sure that everything went through her. She would literally tell them what order we were filming scenes.”
Reps for Roberts, Ross and FX have not returned PEOPLE’s multiple requests for comment. A rep for Murphy declined to comment.
Angelica Ross in ‘American Horror Story: 1984’.Kurt Iswarienko/FX
Kurt Iswarienko/FX
Speaking specifically about the moment where Roberts allegedly made the transphobic comment, Ross — who is transgender — toldTHR, “She had not allowed the makeup team to age her that much. We were supposed to be aged several years. So I knew from the makeup department about what was going on.”
“So she comes to set and I’m like, ‘Oh, you look rested.’ And she goes, ‘John [J. Gray, the director], Angelica’s being mean!’ And he goes, ‘Okay, ladies…’ And she goes, ‘Don’t you mean … lady?'”
“She goes, ‘I was really just referring to myself.’ I said, ‘Don’t. Don’t do it,'” Ross added.
“She apologized 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,'” Ross toldTHR. “I was like, ‘No, you’re not. You can’t call yourself an ally. [Allyship] is an action. You need to be real with me in this conversation. I’m being real with you. You were being messy.'”
“She said, ‘I hope that we can go move forward and fix this. I see you out there doing such great work out there,'” Ross continued. “And I said, ‘Oh, so you see me? You see me talking about the anti-Blackness? Are you using your platform to amplify the work that I’m doing? No, you haven’t. So what kind of ally are you?’ She was like, ‘Well, okay. There’s more to be said there. I would love to support causes that you support.'”
“The truth of the matter is, I know Emma’s got big balls. I’ve seen them on the set, so I’m not surprised that she called me,” Ross added. “This girl is no damsel in distress, ever.”
Emma Roberts in ‘American Horror Story: 1984’.FX
Ross said she feared retaliation if she reported the alleged incident, claiming, “My blood is boiling because I’m like, if I say something, it’s gonna be me that’s the problem. I know this because there was someone who spoke up about what she was doing, and they got repercussions from it.” (PEOPLE has previously reached out to Roberts’ rep regarding this claim but did not receive a response.)
TheTransparentalum also admitted that she no longer spoke to Roberts after their alleged on-set encounter.
“She said to me she could feel the energy coming off of me,” Ross claimed. “She was like, ‘Are you okay? You haven’t been talking.’ I’m like, ‘Mmhmm,’ Cause b—-, don’t play me. You’ve been playing mind games with everybody on the set and everybody’s been waiting for the moment that you would get me.'”
Ina separate tweeton Wednesday, Ross alleged another troubling incident with Roberts and what seemed to be their1984costar Cody Fern.
“We’re all sitting around & I’m copying Cody’s accent. Didn’t know he had one. Emma then copies my voice & laugh and drops it several octaves,” she wrote. “I was SHOOK. She read me for blood with my own words. of course I was self conscious about my voice on set after that.”
Angelica Ross attends the Celebrate the Future of Hollywood event at Mother Wolf on March 24, 2022 in Los Angeles, California.Jon Kopaloff/Getty
The following day, Ross put outanother tweet— this time declaring that she was taking a step back from the industry.
“For the folks who haven’t put it together yet, I’m ‘leaving Hollywood,'” she wrote. “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.”
Addressing her tweet further toTHR, Ross said, “It’s sort of a ‘Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me’ situation. I thought that Ryan Murphy was going to be my champion. I thought he understood… All the people who are part of all of this know exactly what I’m talking about. They know how I showed up on set. They know that I was moving in my Buddha nature. My hairstylist would even say, ‘Angel, I can feel the peace radiating off of you.'”
“There would be so much chaos going on because on a Ryan Murphy set, there is sure to be chaos. That’s just something that people know fromGlee. We’ve heard about that onAmerican Horror Story,Scream Queensand so on,” she added.
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AHS: 1984premiered in September 2019 and was a homage to the slasher movies of that era, likeFriday the 13th.The series was set in Los Angeles during the 1980s and followed a summer camp staff as they reopened grounds after a massacre 14 years earlier. Besides Roberts, Ross, and Fern, the series also starred Billie Lourd, Matthew Morrison, Leslie Grossman, Gus Kentworthy, John Carroll Lynch and Zach Villa.
source: people.com
