Angelica Ross of Pose Fame Speaks Truth to Power, Riling Bernie Bros and Trump Twitter Trolls

Angelica Ross gained the attention of a flood of Bernie Sanders supporters and enraged Trump Twitter trolls after the transgender actress and activist’s hot take on Trump policies impacting trans folks and Sanders’ decision to skip an LGBTQ presidential candidates’ forum she hosted.

Ross (“Candy Ferocity” on FX’s hit series Pose) told Out she would be taking a break from social media and letting her team run her accounts after getting a barrage of vicious mentions following her speech at a presidential candidates’ forum in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Friday night.

The worst came from Trump supporters after she spoke out against policies she deemed especially damaging to the trans community, as The Guardian reports.

And, after the forum, Ross got Bernie Bros’ hackles up after she criticized the Vermont senator’s decision to skip the forum in favor of visits to HBCUs and a civil rights museum in North Carolina, calling it “a huge misstep” that failed to recognize that LGBTQ issues were of importance to black folks too.

As she told The Guardian:

I’m already struggling as a black trans advocate to get folks in my own black community to understand that being black and being LGBTQ are not mutually exclusive. What I hope Bernie would learn is you don’t have to pander to just one aspect of the black community. If he would have been at the LGBTQ forum tonight, he would have seen we were talking about issues affecting people of color. I think it was a huge misstep on his part.

Sanders’ supporters came for Ross on Twitter, defending his record on LGBTQ rights and saying his being at the HBCU event was laudable.

But Ross faced the most vicious attacks from Trump supporters, according to Out, some of whom misgendered her or made otherwise transphobic remarks. Ross, in her opening remarks at the forum, criticized the Trump administration’s moves “to revoke trans health care and discrimination protections,” and to make “it more difficult for homeless trans people to access shelters” or to investigate complaints by trans students.

As Out reports,

The majority of the over 150 responses to The Advocate’s tweet of [Ross’ remarks criticizing Trump] came from Trump supporters and religious zealots.

Comments like the following:

Just more proof that they’re actually suffering from mental illness.. and we’re celebrating it.. the President has done NOTHING to harm anyone. You Liberals would just love to see this country fail just so you can say you were right all along, Orange man bad..how sad

— Alice G. (@AlicetheHellion) September 21, 2019

Ross, for her part, didn’t bother dignifying such comments with a response. Instead, she decided to ghost on social media, telling Out she’d let her team handle her accounts for the moment.

By Monday, Ross’ Twitter account was active again, appreciating her #GlamSquad for her look during Sunday night’s Emmy Awards.

An Emmy Awards that itself was a kind of supportive space where LGBTQ history was made when Ross’ Pose co-star Billy Porter became the first openly gay actor to win an Emmy for best lead actor in a drama series.