Less than gleeful relationships. Lea Michele made headlines in June 2020 when Samantha Marie Ware, who played Jane Hayward on season 6 of Glee, accused her of bullying.
“LMAO REMEMBER WHEN YOU MADE MY FIRST TELEVISION GIG A LIVING HELL?!?! CAUSE ILL NEVER FORGET,” the Margot vs. Lily alum wrote via Twitter at the time alongside comments Michele had posted in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.
Ware continued: “I BELIEVE YOU TOLD EVERYONE THAT IF YOU HAD THE OPPORTUNITY, YOU WOULD ’S—T IN MY WIG!’ AMONGST OTHER TRAUMATIC MICROAGRESSIONS THAT MADE ME QUESTION A CAREER IN HOLLYWOOD.”
Amber Riley, who played Mercedes on the musical comedy series, reacted to the post with a gif of her drinking from a mug. Michele, for her part, responded to the comments two days later.
“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 continued, “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.”
While some of the New Year’s Eve actress’ Glee costars, including Heather Morris, later condemned her behavior on the set of the Fox TV series, others defended her.
“[A] lot of people are assuming that @LeaMichele mistreated me. Let me state it clearly that I was never mistreated by her,” Iqbal Theba, who played Principal Figgins, wrote via Instagram in June 2020. ”And if some of the cast were treated badly, then she has apologized for it, which is wonderful. But being called a racist is too heavy and unfair a burden for most of us, especially in these troubled times. So, please be compassionate, careful & responsible before we accuse anyone of this horrible thing called racism. I love each & every one of my fellow cast members from our great show.”
Matthew Morrison, whose character Will Schuester was the leader of the Glee Club, said that the controversy was a “distraction” from “bigger issues” during a June 2022 interview on FUBAR Radio’s Access All Areas. “You want to be a good, pleasant person to be around. That’s about all I’m going to say on that,” he added.
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Scroll through to see where Michele stands with each of her Glee costars now:
