Angelica Ross returns to ‘Pose,’ says Janet Mock told the truth

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Pose is on its third and final season and it’s going out with some star power. Angelica Ross, who starred on the show’s first two seasons, returned in a flashback episode detailing the rise of the House of Abundance. During her run on the show as Candy Johnson-Ferocity, she was fiery and ferocious.

“It was funny because it was like there was a scripted reunion or a scripted sort of like a flashback, and then there was this unscripted reunion that was happening with all of us,” Ross told The Wrap. “At one point, we were rerunning some of the lines from Season 1 because we were back in the House. It was just so great to get to see each character at very young points and being, not complete novices, but very young and seeing that they all were so fierce.”

Co-created by Ryan Murphy and Steven Canals, Pose, which airs on FX, has been a groundbreaking show that helped change the conversation on the Black trans experience. Set in the 80s, it covered the ballroom community in New York City, which formed their own competitions and communities when the world met them with ridicule and violence. 

Read More: ‘Pose’ to be honored at Human Rights Campaign’s virtual event Time for Equality Live

Ross, who went on to Murphy’s American Horror Story, says that the whole experience of doing the show was an affirming one.

“When the show first started, we had members of the ball community, folks from all corners that were skeptical about what this show was, if it was going to truly hit the mark of authenticity,” Ross told The Wrap. “All of those different things. But what you realize with “Pose,” you have Ryan Murphy, who is a white gay male. You have Steven Canals, who is a Latinx creator.

And then you have Janet Mock, a Black trans woman. You have Our Lady J, who is a white trans woman who has lived through and with HIV. And then you have all of these trans actors, some from ballroom community, some not. And what you have to realize is that it’s a collaboration. This story could not have been told in any other way but with all of us telling it.”

Mock, the show’s executive producer, ruffled a few glittery feathers during a recent speech at the Pose season three premiere event last month when she took the male show co-creators to task, saying that she should have been paid more than $40k an episode. 

Read More: Janet Mock calls out industry for low pay in ‘Pose’ speech: ‘You stomped on us’

She also said that the show’s Hispanic and Black female cast was undervalued, seemingly apologized to her boyfriend, Pose star Angel Bismark Curiel, for allegedly cheating on him, and apologized for a conflict with Our Lady J.

“This is what Pose taught me,” Mock said. “I stand up taller in the world because of this show. I know that I matter because of this show. I have a voice because of this show.” She also said that although she appeared positive throughout the show’s run, she was masking her true feelings.

“I’m hurting y’all. I see injustice and it hurts me inside.”

Ross says that she understands where Mock was coming from.

That evening, I just know that there was a lot of truth that was spoken about a lot of things that hopefully will change in the industry because of the path that Janet has trailed for me,” Ross said. “I’m always grateful for any time any of my Black trans sisters stand up and speak their truth.”

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