Glee's Amber Riley claps back at people who still refer to her as Mercedes

20 January 2022, 17:11

The official trailer for the final episode of Glee ever

By Jazmin Duribe

"I've done too much in my career to be reduced to one role."

Amber Riley is begging you to stop calling her by the name of her Glee character Mercedes, ok?

The actress is well known for playing Mercedes Jones in Glee throughout all six seasons from 2009 to 2015. However, since then she's been in countless shows and theatre productions including Dreamgirls. She also won Dancing With the Stars in 2013, was a judge on the BBC's musical theatre talent show Let It Shine and launched a solo music career under the name RILEY. A true talent.

But despite her extremely impressive resume people are still regularly referring to Amber as "Mercedes" and she hates it.

READ MORE: Idina Menzel says she was too young to play Lea Michele's mum on Glee

On January 15, Amber tweeted: "I despise when ppl call me Mercedes. Put some respect on my name. Call me AMBER or RILEY. 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."

She continued: "I've done too much in my career to be reduced to one role. 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."

This then prompted a wider conversation about names and one user suggested that some people might call Amber Mercedes because they're huge fans of her character and they "don't mean any disrespect".

In response, Amber said: "I'm emotionally intelligent enough to know the difference between someone being genuinely excited, and someone being an Asshole. This was mainly for the assholes. BUT, there is nothing wrong with telling people how you want to be addressed."

She added: "People hate when black ppl advocate for themselves and it shows. I don't even think what I said was wild."

And in response to another fan that agreed with her, Amber wrote: "Periodt. 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.)"

Amber finished her comments on a lighter note, though, thanking her fans for their support. She continued: "I love y’all for respecting what I had to say! It’s always all love and I appreciate the support!"

READ MORE: QUIZ: How well do you remember Glee?

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