Glee’s Amber Riley says former co-star Lea Michele ‘would probably say she doesn’t see race’

Amber Riley has appeared in an interview in which she was grilled about her former Glee co-star Lea Michele’s views on race.

Michele, who played Rachel Berry on the US series, found herself at the centre of a race row when Samantha Ware (Jane Hayward) claimed she made her life a “living hell” due to “traumatic microaggressions” on set.

Ware’s allegation came in response to Michele’s post in support of Black Lives Matter following the killing of George Floyd in 2020.

Riley, when pressed on whether she believed Michele was racially insensitive during her time on the series, said at the time in an Instagram video: “I don’t give a s***. People are out here dying, being murdered by police.”

She added that while the Glee set was “not the most comfortable environment”, she wasn’t “going to say that Lea Michele is racist”.

Now, during an appearance on Showtime’s Ziwe, Riley attempted to sidestep questions about Michele.

Host Ziwe, known for her direct line of questioning, asked without referring to Michele by name: “Now, speaking of getting down in the muck, you said that one of your famous co-workers wasn’t racist. Did you mean that she was?”

After Riley groaned and tried to move onto the next question, she said, winking to the camera: “I don’t know which co-worker you’re talking about – I’ve had so many.”

Ziwe then showed the aforementiond Instagram video, to which Riley told Ziwe she was “trouble”. Riley was then asked: “Would you say that your famous co-worker doesn’t see race and is, in fact, rude to all of her co-workers?”

Riley, who played Mercedes Jones on the show, said: “I think that she would probably say she doesn’t see race. But as we discussed earlier, everyone does.”

When she was asked whether there was a “race war” on the set of Glee, Riley said, laughing: “No, it would require different races. I was the only Black one.”

The Independent has contacted Michele’s representative for comment.

Michele was previously accused of hypocrisy by her co-stars after she posted in support of the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020.

In response to claims by Ware and fellow co-stars including Heather Morris, Michele said in a statement: “One of the most important lessons of the last few weeks is that we need to take the time to listen and learn about other people’s perspectives and any role we have played or anything we can do to help address the injustices that they face.

“When I tweeted the other day, it was meant to be a show of support for our friends and neighbours and communities of colour during this really difficult time, but the responses I received to what I posted have made me also focus specifically on how my own behaviour towards fellow cast members was perceived by them.”

Glee ran for six seasons from 2009 to 2015.