Photo: Gregg DeGuire/Getty
Amber Rileyis asking fans to create a distance between her real life persona and one of her most famous roles.
Riley, 35, posted a plea toTwitterSaturday asking people to “respect” her name and stop referring to her as Mercedes, the name of her character on the hit Fox sitcomGlee.
“I despise when ppl call me Mercedes,” Riley, who played Mercedes Jones from 2009 through 2015, tweeted. “Put some respect on my name. Call me AMBER or RILEY.”
She added, “It’s wild that I even have to say that. No shade to the show/character that gave me a career, but please stop this shit. I don’t answer to it, and if you do it facetiously I’ll block you.”
“I’ve done too much in my career to be reduced to one role,” she wrote. “Whether you respect the work I’ve done or not, I don’t really care, BUT basic human decency is to recognize me as a person and use my actual name. Boundaries.”
Since starring inGlee, Riley has appeared in multiple projects, includingThe Wiz Live!,Straight Outta Oz,Nobody’s Fool,InfamousandA Black Lady Sketch Show. She most recently starred in the holiday filmChristmas Déjà Vu.
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Ashley Nicole Black, a writer and actress onBlack Lady Sketch Show,repliedto Riley’s tweet, asking her costar, “Who we fighting, AMBER???”
Riley replied, “Life girl, LIFE!,” alongside two crying-laughing emojis.
In a latertweet, Riley added, “As a black woman I’ve learned i have to advocate for myself and set clear boundaries because no one else will do it for me! (Well my fiancé will but he just be wantin to beat ppl up, I’m the safer option).”
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The singer and actress previously opened up about self-care and self-love in a July interview withPEOPLE.
At the time, Riley said self-love is “not a destination,” but rather a “forever journey,” explaining, “It’s not a place that you are ever going to arrive.”
“We’re ever-changing and evolving and growing. Our society is always changing and growing and evolving,” she continued. “So I just try my best to check in with myself as often as I possibly can. And the journey — it’s ever-growing and evolving. Sometimes it’s hard, sometimes it’s easy.”
source: people.com
