Angelica Ross recalls tense exchange with Ryan Murphy after alleged racism on “American Horror Story” set

Angelica Ross might be done with Hollywood, but she's not done spilling the tea about her experiences on the American Horror Story set.

The actress recounted a tense exchange with show creator Ryan Murphy in a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter. The incident started with a crew member who allegedly wore offensive shirts on the set of AHS: 1984, the ninth season of the anthology horror series. "Every day he was wearing a racist T-shirt," Ross said. "One day it was, 'BUILD THAT WALL.' The next day it was white praying hands in front of an American flag, and it said, 'I DON'T KNEEL.' Those are the ones I remember. This guy had a collection."

Ross said she refused to leave a production van until the matter was resolved, and had tweeted out the following: "It's a shame that I do all this work out in the world on anti-Blackness and racism and have to come to a set and do the same work." Ross said she deleted the tweet at the request of Murphy — who was not on set that day but relayed via producer Tanase Popa — and said she felt silenced.

"Two seconds later, Ryan Murphy calls me directly. So he was probably there for the whole conversation," Ross said. "He starts off not, 'Are you OK?' Not, "What's going on?" He starts off: 'What's your f---ing problem?! Are you serious?!' He goes, 'You think that I would f---ing silence you after all I've done and I've been an advocate and done nothing but uplift trans Black women?'"

Jon Kopaloff/Getty Images; Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images Angelica Ross and Ryan Murphy

Asked for her response, Ross told the outlet, "This is not my first time at the rodeo of dealing with that energy of white people who think that they are doing good but won't check their own selves when someone Black or of the people they're trying to help is telling them, 'You have a blind spot."

​"And so he is cussing me out​," she continued. "After he finishes, I say, 'Ryan, that's not what's going on here. First of all, the situation has not been handled. The guy is still on set.' And I told him, 'I do all this work out here. Ever since I've been on Pose, your white actors aren't clocking in like we're clocking in. We have to go out there now because Pose is this big show. And you're saying that Pose is not just entertainment, it's an act of advocacy. You're not calculating that you have turned your actors also into advocates.'"

After Ross told Murphy she felt "unsafe" on set while "handling the situation that you should be handling," she said he apologized and said, "You know what? You are right. I'm sorry. I want to be your biggest champion. I understand the work you're doing, and I want to be your biggest champion," and she "believed him."

Popa clarified and refuted Ross' claims when THR reached out to Ryan Murphy Productions for comment, including that Murphy had scolded Ross on the phone. "His assistant Sara Stelwagen was next to him and we did not hear him cuss at her or say, 'After all I've done for you, why would you do this?' He basically said, 'I don't understand why you would go to Twitter instead of coming to us,'" Popa said.

Reps for Murphy and FX have not responded to EW's request for comment.

The interview comes after Ross claimed that Murphy ghosted her after talks of a season of AHS with an all-Black female cast. She also accused costar Emma Roberts of transphobia on set. Roberts has since reached out to apologize, according to Ross.

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