"Glee" fans may be wondering what Amber Riley thinks about the mounting controversy concerning her former co-star Lea Michele — and Riley just discussed it, but made it clear that she doesn’t intend to do so ever again.
In fact, even though Riley candidly broached the topic in her hourlong video chat with journalist and “Real Quick” podcaster Danielle Young, her comments were more about her desire to explain how little it matters to her amid other problems that truly deserve the spotlight right now.
"I don't give a s--- about this Lea Michele thing," Riley said Wednesday. "I really don't give a f---. I don't. I don't want to be asked about it — and I'm not talking to you, I'm talking about everyone else. ... I don't give a s---. People are out here dying. Being murdered by police. Trans women are being murdered at the hands of men."
For those who don’t know, “this Lea Michele thing” refers to allegations aimed against the actress after she posted a tweet in the wake of George Floyd’s death in police custody, stating that he “did not deserve this. This was not an isolated incident and it must end. #BlackLivesMatter.”
Another former “Glee” actress, Samantha Marie Ware, replied with caps-lock bluntness, stating that Michele had made her life on the hit musical dramedy “A LIVING HELL.”
Since then, Michele has issued an apology for her “perceived” behavior, but other past co-stars from “Glee” have spoken out with their own statements, and some believe that Riley made a statement or two of her own when she tweeted out a couple of supportive-seeming GIFs of herself in response to it all.
But in her chat with Young, Riley stressed that her GIFs were just meant to be funny, and that she doesn’t have anything to say about the actress’ behavior on or off set. She stated that she hasn’t even spoken to her in two years.
“I wish Lea Michele well,” she continued. “I hope that she has an amazing pregnancy. I hope that she has grown."
She also said that she’s unwilling to call Michele a racist, adding “That’s not what I’m saying.”
Still, she applauded Ware and said she was “proud” of her for speaking her truth and revealed that she’s decided not to read Michele’s apology.
"I didn't read it because, I told you, I don't give a s--- about it,” she said.
In closing, she emphasized, “I have no hatred or ill will on that end and I want to make that very clear, that my life and what I talk about is not going to be about that. This is the first and last time I'm going to say something."