Tracee Ellis Ross Opens Up on Discrimination Struggles

has opened up about facing racism in the workplace and recalled a recent incident that left her in tears.

The actress, 53, who is best known for her roles in Girlfriends and Black-ish is also the daughter of iconic Motown songstress s, 82.

She told NET-A-PORTER's digital title, PORTER that a recent meeting left her feeling as she was 'in the face of systemic racism' but despite her tears forced herself to speak up.

Alongside her interview Ross channelled her famous mother as she posed for a glamorous shoot. 

She said: 'I walked out of there and it made me cry with how hard it was. I felt like I was in the face of systemic racism. I was the only woman in the room. I was one of two Black people, two people of colour'.  

'And the garbage that was coming at me with such a sense of ease… it was genuinely staggering. And I felt very proud that I didn't feel afraid to stand up. I brought it.'

Back in 2018  described ABC's decision to shelve a Black-ish episode about NFL players taking a knee as 'frightening'. 

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Ross questioned whether or not the decision amounted to 'censorship.'

It was pulled without explanation over reported 'creative differences' between the show's creator Kenya Barris and network bosses. 

Fans were outraged by the move and have demanded answers as to why it was never shown but none have yet been given. 

Ross did not provide them, saying only that she had asked for 'information' about the decision but that she did not demand to know the details of why it was pulled.  

'The details of why the episode was pulled and everything that has surrounded that, I do not have the answers for. 

'To a certain extent, I have purposefully stayed out of those conversations because I have had no power to do something beyond that. 

'So, I have asked for the information and pushed for the information that I felt would be helpful to me and constructive in what I can do with it, because I find it frightening,' she said.  

The episode was due to air on February 27 but was shelved over 'creative differences', according to sources cited by Variety in March. 

The show's creator Kenya Barris has since reportedly   

Titled 'Please, baby, please', the episode honed in on the ongoing national debate over NFL players who refuse to stand and instead take a knee during the national anthem.  

It was sparked by Colin Kaepernick as a protest against police brutality towards African Americans and general racial inequality across the country. 

Critics complained that the episode was shelved while Roseanne, which sympathized more with conservative views, was allowed to carry on. 

Roseanne was

ABC has given no public comment on the decision not to to air the episode. It ran a rerun on February 27.  

Ross gave her commentas part of a group interview in which Drew Barrymore, Rachel Brosnahan, Debra Messing and Alison Brie also took part.

They also discussed the #MeToo movement and how they felt the women of Hollywood were now more unified than ever before.

While Barris has not been vocal about his own dispute with ABC over the shelved episode, he spoke out repeatedly over its handling of the Roseanne Barr scandal. 

He revealed that he planned to quit the network if ABC did not, as it did later, cancel the show and end its relationship with Barr who made the abhorrent remark that lawyer Valerie Jarrett looked like 'if Muslim brotherhood and Planet of the Apes had a baby'.

ABC's president of entertainment, Channing Dungey, issued this statement afterwards: 'Roseanne’s Twitter statement is abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values, and we have .'