This weekend, Lea Michele posted a tweet in support of Black Lives Matter, a sentiment former Glee co-star Samantha Marie Ware found ironic, alleging Michele’s treatment of her on-set was the opposite of allyship. To Ware’s recollection, the Scream Queens actress made her time on the show’s sixth season as student singer Jane Hayward “a living hell,” alleging Michele committed numerous “traumatic microaggressions” that made her “question a career in Hollywood.” To cite one example, Ware says Michele once told their co-workers that, if she had the opportunity, she would “shit in my wig.”
As it turns out, Ware wasn’t the only black actor who allegedly experienced hostility from Michele. “Girl, you wouldn’t let me sit at the table with the other cast members cause ‘I didn’t belong there,’” Black Lighting actor Dabier, who appeared in a 2014 episode of Glee, tweeted Monday evening. “Fuck you Lea.”
And as for Glee star Amber Riley, who played Mercedes Jones on the Ryan Murphy series, she let her gifs do the talking for her.
As did Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist star Alex Newell, who joined Glee’s third season as vocalist Unique Adams.
Update 6/2 10pm: Meal-kit delivery company HelloFresh dropped Michele’s sponsorship deal following her co-stars’ tweets. “HelloFresh does not condone racism nor discrimination of any kind. We are disheartened and disappointed to learn of the recent claims concerning Lea Michele,” they tweeted. “We take this very seriously, and have ended our partnership with Lea Michele, effective immediately.”
Update, June 3 10:10 a.m.: Lea Michele’s publicist has entered the chat. The actress apologized for her behavior on the set of Glee in a statement exclusive to People, but did note that she doesn’t recall specifically saying she would “shit in” Ware’s wig. “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 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. 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.”
