There’s a legend among television fans that the cast of Ryan Murphy’s Glee is cursed, and the evidence only continues to pile up. Earlier this week, Lea Michele took to social media to tweet in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement after the murder of George Floyd sparked protests throughout the country. However, Michele’s Glee co-star, Samantha Ware, responded to the tweet and revealed that Michele made her life a “living hell” on the show’s set. “George Floyd did not deserve this. This was not an isolated incident and it must end. #BlackLivesMatter,” Michele wrote. “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 ‘SH*T IN MY WIG!’ AMONGST OTHER TRAUMATIC MICROAGRESSIONS THAT MADE ME QUESTION A CAREER IN HOLLYWOODโฆ,” Ware replied. Glee alums Amber Riley and Alex Newell soon chimed in, sharing support for Ware. The overwhelming evidence of Michele’s bad behavior caused an extreme backlash on social media for the actor. This morning, Michele issued a lengthy apology.
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“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 why face. 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,” Michele wrote on Instagram.
She added, “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. I am a couple of months from becoming 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.”
You can view the Instagram post below, which mostly features comments along the lines of “One of the worse apologies I’ve ever read,” and “‘I’m sorry if you thought I was acting racist’.”
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What do you think of Michele’s response? Tell us in the comments.