Lea Michele Apologizes After Costar Samantha Marie Ware Says She Made Glee a ‘Living Hell’
UPDATE: June 4, 2020 at 8:26 a.m. ET — Samantha Marie Ware has responded to former costar Lea Michele's apology about the way she treated people on the set of Glee.
Ware tweeted, "Perceived? Purcieved? Purse? Open your purse??????????????" seemingly referring to the wording of Michele's apology in which she discussed "how my own behavior towards fellow cast members was perceived by them." Ware also included a link to a GoFundMe for James Scurlock, a young man who was shot and killed in Omaha.
Heather Morris, who played Brittany on the show, also spoke about her working relationship with Michele. "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; for Lea to treat others with the disrespect that she did for as long as she did, I believe she SHOULD be called out," she said.
Amber Riley talked about the situation in an Instagram Live interview with Danielle Young. "I don't give a shit. People are out here dying, being murdered by police," she said, per Entertainment Weekly. Riley said she's glad Ware spoke out and that the Glee set was "not the most comfortable environment," but she wasn't "going to say that Lea Michele is racist."
"I'm very proud of her [Ware] for standing up for herself," Riley said, adding that she FaceTimed with Ware this week. "I am proud of her not being fearful for speaking her truth ... [Her] feeling was, 'I am not going to allow you to jump on what is happening now when you didn’t treat me right.'"
ORIGINAL STORY:
Lea Michele has released a statement in response to her former Glee costar, Samantha Marie Ware, saying the actor made the set a “living hell.”
It started when, on May 29, Michele tweeted a message about the killing of George Floyd, writing, “This was not an isolated incident and it must end.”
But Ware, who played Jane Hayward on the Ryan Murphy series, soon called out Michele for posting a hollow message of support. “LMAO,” she said before relaying her experience working with Michele on Glee. “REMEMBER WHEN YOU MADE MY FIRST TELEVISION GIG A LIVING HELL?!?! CAUSE ILL NEVER FORGET. I BELIEVE YOU TOLD EVERYONE THAT IF YOU HAD THE OPPORTUNITY YOU WOULD ‘SHIT IN MY WIG!’ AMONGST OTHER TRAUMATIC MICROAGRESSIONS THAT MADE ME QUESTION A CAREER IN HOLLYWOOD.”
Ware’s account was corroborated by Alex Newell, who played Wade Adams (aka Unique) on Glee for more than 40 episodes, with some very telling GIF reactions:
And by Amber Riley as well. The actor, who played Mercedes on Glee, tweeted this series of GIFs not long after Ware’s post:
A few days later, on June 3, Lea Michele responded to Ware’s post. “One of the most important lessons of the last few weeks is that we need to take the time to listen and learn about other people’s perspectives and any role we have played or anything we can do to help address the injustices they face,” Michele wrote on Instagram. “When I tweeted the other day, it was meant to be a show of support for our friends and neighbors and communities of color during this really difficult time, but the responses I received to what I posted have made me also focus specifically on how my own behavior towards fellow cast members was perceived by them.”
She continued, “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. 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. We all can grow and change and I have definitely used these past several months to reflect on my own shortcomings.”
She ended her statement with, “I am a couple of months from being a mother and I know I need to keep working to better myself and take responsibility for my actions, so that I can be a real role model for my child and so I can pass along my lessons and mistakes, so that they can learn from me. I listened to these criticisms and I am learning and while I am very sorry, I will be better in the future from this experience.”
Ware has not responded to Michele’s statement yet, but we’ll update if she does.
Originally Appeared on Glamour
