Angelica Ross has had it with Hollywood nonsense. After having done her part to help raise the visibility of trans people of color in film and TV, suffering many indignities in the process, she’s decided to leave acting behind to pursue a different path: in politics.
One of those articles was over at Them, which reported that Ross plans to move back to her home state of Georgia to run for office. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Ross detailed her plans to move to Georgia full-time and take on a political life, because Hollywood had become “[S]ort of a “Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me” situation.” She explains:
“I’m moving back to Georgia to prepare to run for office. I’ve been consulting with Renitta Shannon, a former Georgia state representative who also just recently ran for lieutenant governor. I go into candidate and campaign training next month. I have also been speaking with folks like Bruce Franks Jr., who is also a Black politician from Missouri who shook the table. So I’m fully walking away from Hollywood. But I’m always going to be who I am. You don’t have to be on TV to be a creative person, to live a creative life.”
More details about Ryan Murphy and Emma Roberts
The Hollywood Reporter interview also goes into further detail about racist incidents she endured while on the set of American Horror Story, and how inadequate the response was from both Ryan Murphy and Emma Roberts, who was “Number One on the call sheet,” and in a strong position to address the issues if she chose to do so.
Apparently, Roberts reached out to apologize to Ross after she made Roberts’ transphobic comment public. That apology, however, was a bit lacking to hear Ross tell it:
It was a bumpy conversation. 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.” […]
She goes, “I was really just referring to myself.” I said, “Don’t. Don’t do it.” 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?”
So, Roberts was trying to shade Ross back after Ross said she looked “rested” (i.e.: not aged up enough,) but her shade ended up being unthinkingly transphobic. Unthinkingly transphobic, however, is still transphobic. A true “ally” would understand that before saying the stupid thing, because they would’ve already done the work to learn. Le sigh.
A life of public service
Acting has always been one of many ways in which Ross has devoted herself to service as well as improving the lives of trans people, especially Black and brown trans folks. In her youth, she joined the U.S. Navy to qualify for the G.I. Bill. Later, after teaching herself coding and starting a web developing and graphic design business while taking acting classes, she became the employment coordinator for the Trans Life Center in Chicago.
In 2014, she founded the non-profit organization TransTech Social Enterprises, which centers trans and gender non-conforming people and provides skills and job opportunities in the tech industry. And, of course, her consistent vocal activism in entertainment has brought the issues faced by Black and brown trans people in the industry to the forefront.
So, transitioning into a career in politics makes sense in a life that has always included elements of public service and activism. While it’s unclear at this point what position(s) Ross is considering running for, she certainly has the intelligence and the activism track record to be a formidable candidate for whatever office she chooses.
I’m already looking forward to sending contributions to her future campaigns!
(featured image: FX)
