Photo: Unique Nicole/Getty Images and Taylor Hill/WireImage/Getty Images
<p>During a recent sit-down with Ziwe, <em>Glee </em>star Amber Riley had her feet held to the fire regarding her past claims about Lea Michele not being <a href="https://dev.theshaderoom.com/bye-hussey-critics-call-out-racist-royal-staff-member-resigning-after-meghan-markle-already-told-us-the-tea/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">racist</a>.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Amber Riley Stood By Lea Michele In The Past: &#8216;I&#8217;m Not Going To Say That She&#8217;s Racist&#8217;</h3>
<p>The issue first came to public attention back in 2020 after Samantha Marie Ware, a recurring character on the final season of <em>Glee</em>, blasted Lea on social media. Specifically, after Lea posted about #BlackLivesMatter, Samatha accused the actress of orchestrating a series of &#8220;traumatic microaggressions&#8221; against her during their time on set together, <a href="https://people.com/tv/glee-costar-accuses-lea-michele-of-making-time-on-set-a-living-hell-ill-never-forget/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><em>People</em></a> reports.</p>
<p><a href="https://people.com/tv/lea-michele-apologizes-accuses-her-making-set-living-hell/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Lea</a> went on to apologize and share that her &#8220;privilege&#8221; may have led her to be &#8220;perceived as insensitive.&#8221; Additionally, Amber—who starred alongside Lea on all six seasons of the beloved series—spoke out on the matter.</p>
<p>During an Instagram Live chat with <a href="https://www.instagram.com/thedanielleyoung/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Danielle Young</a>, Amber Riley initially shared that she was &#8220;proud&#8221; of Samantha for &#8220;speaking her truth.&#8221; However, she went on to clarify that she was &#8220;not going to say that Lea Michele is racist.&#8221;</p>
<blockquote><p>&#8220;I&#8217;m not going to say that Lea Michele is racist. That&#8217;s not what I&#8217;m saying. That was the assumption because of what&#8217;s going on right now in the world and it happened toward a Black person. I&#8217;m not going to say that she&#8217;s racist.&#8221;</p></blockquote>
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<h3 style="text-align: center;">Ziwe Goes In On Amber&#8217;s Statement: &#8216;Did You Mean That She Was?&#8217;</h3>
<p>Two years after speaking on the matter, Amber was grilled on her comments during her recent appearance on Ziwe&#8217;s self-titled show.</p>
<p>The host got things poppin&#8217; by asking if Amber thought Lea, who wasn&#8217;t explicitly named, was indeed racist.</p>
<blockquote><p>&#8220;You said one of your famous coworkers wan&#8217;t racist. Did you mean that she was?&#8221;</p></blockquote>
<p>In turn, Amber was seemingly caught off guard and at a loss for words.</p>
<blockquote><p>&#8220;Ohh, Ziwe. Umm&#8230; next question. I don&#8217;t even know how to answer that.&#8221;</p></blockquote>
<p>She also claimed, &#8220;I don&#8217;t know which coworker you&#8217;re talking about. I&#8217;ve had so many.&#8221;</p>
<p>Humorously, Ziwe rolled with the punches and altered her question to make it more palatable.</p>
<blockquote><p>&#8220;Would you say that your famous coworker doesn&#8217;t see race and is in fact rude to all of her coworkers?&#8221;</p></blockquote>
<p>Amber then responded that Lea &#8220;would probably say she doesn&#8217;t see race.&#8221;</p>
<blockquote><p>&#8220;I think that she would probably say she doesn&#8217;t see race. But as we discussed earlier, everyone does.&#8221;</p></blockquote>
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<p>What are your thoughts on Amber Riley&#8217;s comments, and do you believe the speculation surrounding Lea Michele&#8217;s character?</p>
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