Lea Michele Apologizes After Former ‘Glee’ Co-Star Samantha Ware Accuses Her of Making Set ‘Living Hell’
Lea Michele has issued an apology after her former “Glee” co-star Samantha Ware accused Michele of making her life “a living hell” on set.
“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 that they face,” Michele wrote in a lengthy statement posted to Instagram Wednesday. “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 as 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.”
*Also Read:* Lea Michele Accused of Making 'Glee' Set a 'Living Hell' for Cast Members of Color
Michele tweeted a statement in support of George Floyd May 29, writing, “George Floyd did not deserve this. This was not an isolated incident and it must end. #BlackLivesMatter.”
Ware, who played student singer Jane Hayward on the now-ended Fox show’s sixth season, responded to the tweet: “Remember when you made my first television gig a living hell?!?! Cause I’ll never forget. I believe you told everyone that if you had the opportunity you would ‘s– in my wig!’ amongst other traumatic microaggressions that made me question a career in Hollywood.”
Ware was backed up by “Black Lightning” actor Dabier Snell, who appeared in an episode of “Glee” in 2014. Amber Riley also weighed in, but instead of using words, she shared a GIF of herself pointing her finger and sipping tea.
Complaints also came from other castmembers, including “RuPaul’s Drag Race” season five competitor Willam Belli, who said Michele treated them as “subhuman.”
See Michele’s statement via her Instagram post below.
More to come…
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A post shared by Lea Michele (@leamichele) on Jun 3, 2020 at 4:03am PDT