Lea Michele controversy: ‘Glee’ co-stars speak out

More ‘Glee’ cast members are coming forth with allegations on how ‘unpleasant’ it was to work with Lea Michele on the sets of the Fox show.

Co-star Samantha Marie Ware first slammed Michele on Twitter, claiming she had made her life a “living hell”. In response to a tweet from expressing support for George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter movement, Ware, a black actress, called Michele out. “LMAO REMEMBER WHEN YOU MADE MY FIRST TELEVISON GIG A LIVING HELL?!?! CAUSE ILL NEVER FORGET. I BELIEVE YOU TOLD EVERYONE THAT IF YOU HAD THE OPPORTUNITY YOU WOULD “[Expletive] IN MY WIG!” AMONGST OTHER TRAUMATIC MICROAGRESSIONS THAT MADE ME QUESTION A CAREER IN HOLLYWOOD…”

Now more actors and actresses have come forth, including Heather Morris, Amber Riley and Yvette Nicole Brown. Morris led the statements on Wednesday, writing in an Instagram post that Michele was “very much” unpleasant to work with. “Let me be very clear, hate is a disease in America that we are trying to cure, so I would never wish for hate to be spread to anyone else. With that said, was she unpleasant to work with? Very much so,” wrote Morris. “For Lea to treat others with the disrespect that she did for as long as she did, I believe she should be called out. And yes, it’s also on us because to allow it to go on for so long without speaking out is something else we’re learning along with the rest of society. But, at the current moment its implied that she is a racist and although I cannot comment on her beliefs, I think we’re assuming, and you know what happened when we all assume…”

Amber Riley, who initially responded to Ware’s call-out tweet with a GIF of herself sipping tea, spoke about the incident further on Danielle Young’s Instagram page. “I don’t know the best way to address this, because I am not a vindictive and petty person. I’m just not. My response to it on Twitter was literally because I’m a clown and I thought that it was funny. We’ve already seen other people say it was not the most comfortable environment [on Glee] … I’m very proud of Samantha for standing up for herself [and] not being fearful and speaking her truth,” said Riley.

She added: “I’m not going to say that Lea Michele is racist … That was the assumption because of what’s going on right now in the world and it happened toward a Black person … She’s also pregnant and I think that everybody needs to kind of chill. Y’all dragged her for a couple of days. But at the same time, in my inbox, there were a lot of Black actors and actresses telling me their stories and were letting me know they have dealt with the same things on set, being terrorised by the white girls that are the leads of the show … because we all know that person of colour and a black person is always the sidekick.”

Actor Dabier Snell, who appeared on one episode of ‘Glee’, also felt like an outcast. “GIRL YOU WOULDNT LET ME SIT AT THE TABLE WITH THE OTHER CAST MEMBERS CAUSE “I DIDNT BELONG THERE” [EXPLETIVE] YOU LEA,” wrote Snell.

Glee background actress and ‘Daybreak’ star Jeante Godluck wrote: “did somebody say cockroaches? because that’s what she used to refer to the background as on the set of glee. but we grow up and we don’t stay background forever sooooo…”

Michele’s cast members from other productions came forth, too. ‘Spring Awakening’ understudy Gerard Canonico replied to Michele’s apology on her Instagram. “Seems to have been deleted. So I’ll try again,” he commented. “You were nothing but a nightmare to me and fellow understudy cast members. You made us feel like we didn’t belong there. I tried for years to be nice to you to no avail. Maybe actually apologize instead of placing the blame on how others ‘perceive’ you. You’ll probably just delete this though.”

“I felt every one of those capital letters,” wrote ‘Community’s Yvette Nicole Brown, who co-starred with Michele on the sitcom ‘The Mayor’, in response to Ware’s original tweet. “EVERY person on a set matters. EVERY person on a set deserves respect. And it is the RESPONSIBILITY of every series regular to make EVERY person who visits their home feel welcome. This dismissive attitude is what’s wrong in Hollywood AND the world.”

Michele’s ‘Scream Queens’ co-star Abigail Breslin liked a Twitter post that read: “Not everyone agreeing that something felt off about Lea Michele…where have y’all been I’ve been saying this for years??? I thought I was alone.”

Author Caroline Moss also had something to say, taking to Twitter to share an anecdote. “Lea Michele snarled at me outside the ‘Spring Awakening’ stage door in 2006 because my outfit (a shirt and jeans) was distracting to her performance and I had been sitting in one of the onstage seats. None of these tweets surprise me but her cancellation does delight me! Bye to Lea.”

HelloFresh US cut ties with Michele after the initial wave of accusations against the actress. “HelloFresh does not condone racism nor discrimination of any kind. We are disheartened and disappointed to learn of the recent claims concerning Lea Michele. We take this very seriously, and have ended our partnership with Lea Michele, effective immediately,” they wrote on Twitter.

Michele’s apology came on June 2 on Instagram. She wrote: “While I don’t remember ever making this specific statement and I have never judged others by their background or color of their skin, that’s not really the point, what matters is that I clearly acted in ways which hurt other people.” She added: “Whether it was my privileged position and perspective that caused me to be perceived as insensitive or inappropriate at times or whether it was just my immaturity and me just being unnecessarily difficult, I apologize for my behavior and for any pain which I have caused.”

This isn’t the first time Michele has been involved in bad blood on ‘Glee’. Co-star Naya Rivera wrote in her 2016 book that Michele “didn’t like sharing the spotlight” and claimed that Michelle “didn’t say a word to me for all of Season 6.”

‘Glee’ aired on Fox from 2009 until 2016. Michele played self-serving glee club star Rachel Berry. The series has had its fair share of tragedies and shocking news. Cast member Cory Monteith, and Michele’s fiance at the time, died in 2013 of a drug overdose at 31. Mark Salling, who pled guilty to posession of child pornography, died by apparent suicide in 2018 at 35.