Is Glee’s Only Black Cast Member Amber Riley Leaving the Show?

There's a controversy at Fox.

By Jorge Rivas May 25, 2012

Two weeks ago Amber Riley who plays Mercedes Jones on "Glee" caused a ruckus online when she bid farewell to the whole Glee family. Now she’s changing her story and saying that’s actually not what she was trying to say.

"Just closed a chapter in my life, the only thing I’ve known day in and day out for three years. I’m going to miss the whole Glee family, seeing them everyday! I have so many brothers and sisters now," Riley wrote on Twitter to her 680,000 followers. "But I am looking forward to a much needed and deserved summer vacation! SCHOOL’S OUT Glee Kids! Let’s play!" she went on to say.

Does that sound like a heartfelt emotional goodbye to you? Her comments to Entertainment Weekly also sounded like her glass was half empty.

"All I know is I’ve been told that I’m a senior and I am graduating,’ Amber told Entertainment Weekly before the Twitter scandal. "If it is my last season, it is what it is. I’ve been given a really great platform to do other things that I love. I’m happy at the place where I am."

Riley’s tweet about needing a "much needed" summer vacation made a lot of sense to fans of the show because just days before Riley fainted on a red carpet and blamed exhaustion. Industry insiders and those close to the production regularly make comments about the alleged seven day schedules for Glee cast members that include recording songs, acting and practicing dance routines.

Soon after Riley made her comments on Twitter the L.A. Times ran to Fox for a statement but they would neither confirm or deny whether Riley, the only African American regular member of the cast, was leaving the show.

Now Riley is saying it’s all a big misunderstanding

"I was not confirming I was leaving the show. Just stating that I would miss being in the classroom everyday with the cast and that would be changing," Riley wrote on Twitter recently.

Sounds like she was playing hard to get her contract figured it out though, no? Or like there is a lot more to this story?