The internet blew up last week when Samantha Ware accused her Glee co-star Lea Michele of making her first TV gig a “living hell” and claimed Lea threatened to s*** in her wig. The latter comment has veiled racist undertones, and is probably the reason Hello Fresh fired Lea as a spokesperson.
Now, Samantha is speaking up, detailing to Variety exactly what went on between the two actresses during the 6th and final season of Glee in 2014-15. From the sounds of things, Lea ruled that set. Samantha’s co-stars and crew saw clearly what was happening, but did not speak up.
Samantha Ware Describes Lea Michele’s abuse on the Glee set
- “It was after I did my first performance, that’s when it started – the silent treatment, the stare-downs, the looks, the comments under her breath, the weird passive aggressiveness. It all built up.”
- “When you’re shooting a scene, sometimes the camera is on you and sometimes it’s not, but you still have to be in the scene. The camera wasn’t on us, so it’s not like we had to give a full throttle performance, but apparently, I was goofing around when the camera wasn’t on me, and she took that as me being disrespectful to her.”
- “She waited until the scene was over and she stopped in the middle of the stage and did a ‘come here’ gesture, like how a mother does to their child. I said ‘no,’ and that’s when she decided to threaten my job, and said she would call Ryan Murphy in to come and fire me.”
- “It’s scary. For the full week, I was thinking I’m probably going to get an email and I might not be able to do the last three episodes, or I might not be able to sing another song.”
- “She had an issue because I had laughed [when watching a scene] and that’s when the ‘I’m going to s–t in your wig’ comment happened. Some chuckled and some gasped. It was mortifying. The whole point was for her to embarrass me. People heard her, but no one was going to stand up to her.”
- “Does Lea even know what a microaggression is? I don’t know. All that her apology did was affirm that she hasn’t learned anything. Am I calling Lea a racist? No. Does Lea have racist tendencies? I think Lea suffers from a symptom of living in this world in an industry that is tailored to white people.”
Lea Sent Samantha a letter of Apology
After attempting to get in touch directly with Samantha through a mutual, she wouldn’t provide Lea with her personal contact information. Instead, Samantha asked her to contact her representatives, who received a personal email from Lea on Jun. 3 with an apology letter.
It’s worth noting that when Naya Rivera complained to producers about Lea’s behavior, she was fired and written out of the final two or three episodes of the season. It’s no wonder cast and crew turned a blind eye to Lea’s antics.
One more thing: Lea had a legitimate beef with Samantha for goofing around on set. It’s the kind of thing that would upset a perfectionist. But it’s Lea’s behavior that is the real problem here.
