The hit series American Horror Story has just returned for another season. In the meantime, however, controversy has surfaced over an alleged transphobic joke made by star Emma Roberts during the production of American Horror Story: 1984.
The comment was made towards her co-star, Angelica Ross, and now Emma Roberts appears to have issued an apology. This was noted by Angelica Ross on X, formerly known as Twitter, when she began reiterating some of the transphobic jokes that Roberts allegedly made while they worked together.
Here are the tweets that Ross made before sharing that an apology was received:
The funniest part? 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. I was SHOOK. She read me for blood with my own words 😂 of course I was self conscious about my voice on set after…
— A N G E L I C A (@angelicaross) September 20, 2023
Let me make something absolutely clear. I appreciate the support but please do not joke about violence towards Emma. Joke about her being held accountable. Now THATs funny 😆
— A N G E L I C A (@angelicaross) September 20, 2023
It was then that Ross thanked Roberts for making an apology:
Thank you @RobertsEmma for calling and apologizing, recognizing your behavior was not that of an ally. I will leave the line open to follow up on your desire to do better and support social justice causes with your platform.
— A N G E L I C A (@angelicaross) September 20, 2023
A more detailed example of the transphobic jokes made by Emma Roberts on the set of American Horror Story: 1984 was shared by Ross in an interview with THR. Here’s what she stated at the time:
“What happened is this: 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 [the director], Angelica’s being mean!’ And he goes, ‘OK, ladies …’ And she goes, ‘Don’t you mean … lady?'”
As for how Roberts apologized, Ross had this to share about that as well:
“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.’ 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.'”
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, OK. There’s more to be said there. I would love to support causes that you support.'”
As such, we’ll have to see how this situation develops. For now, Angelica Ross has made clear her decision to leave Hollywood altogether.