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“Glee” Cast Members Jumped In To Criticise And Defend Lea Michele After She Apologised For “Traumatic Microagressions”
Yet more Glee cast and crew members have stepped forward to talk about their experience with Lea Michele on the set of the show after Samantha Ware accused her of “traumatic microagressions” that made her question her entire career. Gregg Deguire / Getty Images Earlier this week, Samantha — who played Jane Hayward in the…
Yet more Glee cast and crew members have stepped forward to talk about their experience with Lea Michele on the set of the show after Samantha Ware accused her of “traumatic microagressions” that made her question her entire career.
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Earlier this week, Samantha — who played Jane Hayward in the sixth season of Glee — responded to a tweet made by Lea in response to the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police officers.
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“Remember when you made my first television gig a living hell?!?!” Samantha tweeted on Monday. “I’ll 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…”
LMAO REMEMBER WHEN YOU MADE MY FIRST TELEVISON GIG A LIVING HELL?!?! CAUSE ILL NEVER FORGET. I BELIEVE YOU TOLD EVERYONE THAT IF TOU HAD THE OPPORTUNITY YOU WOULD “SHIT IN MY WIG!” AMONGST OTHER TRAUMATIC MICROAGRESSIONS THAT MADE ME QUESTION A CAREER IN HOLLYWOOD… https://t.co/RkcaMBmtDA
Not long after, Dabier Snell — who appeared in an episode of Glee back in 2014 — accused Lea of not letting him sit at a table with the other cast members because he “didn’t belong there”.
GIRL YOU WOULDNT LET ME SIT AT THE TABLE WITH THE OTHER CAST MEMBERS CAUSE “I DIDNT BELONG THERE” FUCK YOU LEA https://t.co/s4NoLdtqRs
With an intense backlash rumbling online, Lea responded to the accusations, apologising for being “perceived as insensitive or inappropriate at times” in a statement posted to Instagram.
“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 really not the point,” the lengthy statement read. “What matters is that I clearly acted in ways which hurt other people.”
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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.”
Her apology came shortly after Hello Fresh confirmed they’d terminated an endorsement deal with Lea as a result of the accusations against her.
Samantha appeared to respond to the apology by suggesting that Lea “open [her] purse” and donate money to a GoFundMe set up in honour of James Scurlock, who was reportedly shot and killed while protesting in Omaha.
Then Heather Morris — the actor and dancer who played Brittany S. Pierce on Glee — waded into the controversy, appearing to both defend and criticise Lea at the same time.
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After calling Lea “unpleasant to work with” and saying that she deserved to be called out for her treatment of fellow cast members, Heather implied that those on set were at least partly to blame for not speaking up sooner.
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“At the current moment it’s implied that she is a racist and although I cannot comment on her beliefs, I think we’re assuming,” Heather concluded. “And you know what happens when we all assume…”
Heather herself received backlash for her own response to the death of George Floyd, as people criticised her tearful interpretative dance video that was posted on TikTok.
Glee cast really showed up for #BlackLivesMatter , this girl had not even 1 friend to tell her this was stupid. Heather Morris (Brittany) doing an interpretive dance to represent George Floyd’s death I really thought I’d seen it all.
A producer of Glee also spoke out about the situation. In since-deleted tweets, Marti Noxon appeared to at least partially stick up for Lea, saying that “women are the first to go under the bus” while the men on set “get away with being bullies-in-chief”.
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“On Glee there were LOTS of bad actors who were NOT women,” Marti tweeted. “People in the industry know who I’m talking about. Why aren’t we calling them out?”
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Become a founding memberMarti continued: “It seems to me that women are the first to go under the bus. But a lot of males get away with being bullies-in-chief. How come we let them get away with it? Maybe it’s because as long as they earn someone money, they get a pass.”
When pressed to name who she was referring to, Marti simply said: “I’m going to leave that to my male allies. It’s their turn.”
Later clarifying her statement, Marti said her tweets were “poorly phrased” before saying that the Hollywood industry at large has “problems” that need to be fixed.
I apologize for causing confusion. This is an emotional time and my industry, just like all industries, has problems it needs to fix. We are working on it – and it’s getting slowly better.
“I was on [Glee] for one season, and only part time,” Marti added. “By and large the people I met there were wonderful. And the crew was fantastic. But when bullies are allowed to act that way — there is a culture that permits it. That’s all I was saying. Thanks. Stay safe.”
Despite all the backlash against Lea, however, one castmate came forward in her defence — Dean Geyer, who played Lea’s on-screen boyfriend in season four.
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“Lea is still one of my favourite co-stars that I have had the pleasure of working with,” Dean reportedly told the Daily Mail. “She is extremely hard working and super fun to be around.”
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Dean went on that he had expected to be “known as the ‘new guy’ for at least a month” when he joined the show but that Lea had been “the most friendly” and he had felt “immediately welcomed” by the cast and crew.
Dean actually went as far as to say that, based off his own opinion and experience with Lea, he didn’t think the backlash was warranted.
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“I can only speak for myself and my own experience,” he said, “But from what I saw during my time on set, there was nothing but professionalism and a genuine sense of community amongst the cast and crew.”
Dean continued: “No one showed any signs of discomfort while Lea was on set. If I’m basing my opinion off my season, there definitely shouldn’t be a reason for a backlash.”
BuzzFeed News have reached out to reps of Lea Michele for comment.
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