Ziwe grills Amber Riley on whether Lea Michele sees race: 'She would probably say she doesn't'

Amber Riley is a winner of Dancing With the Stars, The Masked Singer, and, if it were a competition, Glee.

Still, having starred alongside Broadway's current Fanny Brice in that musical comedy series, Riley got grilled by another funny girl about the alleged racially insensitive shenanigans of her former Glee costar.

In an appearance on Ziwe's eponymous show, Riley did her professional best to sidestep saying anything damning about Lea Michele, but when pressed by the host, the singer/actress admitted Michele probably has a glaring blind spot.

Ziwe and Riley began the interview with a tongue-in-cheek discussion on diversity and racism, during which Riley pushed back on the idea that people don't see color. Riley was the only main Glee cast member who was Black, leading Ziwe to ask if there was a "race war" on the show.

"No, it would require different races," Riley said with a laugh. "I was the only Black one."

"Now, speaking of getting down in the muck, you said that one of your famous coworkers wasn't racist," Ziwe continued, referencing Riley's 2020 Instagram Live about Michele. "Did you mean that she was?"

Riley attempted to pull the "next question" card, but this is Ziwe, where that card gets shuffled right back into the deck. That's when Riley tried her hand at the equally diplomatic "I don't know which coworker you're talking about, I had so many" card, but with a knowing wink.

Back in 2020, Michele was accused by former Glee costars of being a bully onset, particularly by actress Samantha Ware, who said Michele made her time on the Fox series a "living hell." At the time, Riley weighed in with her own experience. In a now-expired clip, Riley told journalist Danielle Young: "I'm not going to say that Lea Michele is racist. That's not what I'm saying. That was the assumption because of what's going on right now in the world and it happened toward a Black person. I'm not going to say that she's racist."

Though neither Ziwe nor Riley mentioned Michele by name, the host finally got a more direct answer from her guest when she asked, "Would you say that your famous coworker doesn't see race and is, in fact, rude to all of her coworkers?"

"I think that she would probably say she doesn't see race," Riley responded. "But as we discussed earlier, everyone does."

In June 2020, Michele issued a public apology to Ware, saying in part, "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."

Elsewhere in the apology, Michele added, "While I don't remember ever making this specific statement and I have never judged others by their background or color of their skin, that's not really the point. What matters is that I clearly acted in ways which hurt other people."

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