Photo: Tinseltown | Jaguar PS | Shutterstock
She was accused of racism and toxicity.
By Nia Tipton — Written on Jul 12, 2022
After the announcement that Lea Michele has replaced Beanie Feldstein as the lead in the Broadway revival of "Funny Girl," one of her "Glee" co-stars is speaking out after previously accusing Michele of bullying.
Accusations that the actress had mistreated her former castmates first emerged back in 2020 but now, with newfound attention on Michele, her behavior is in the limelight once again.
Lea Michele's history of alleged bullying and racism has resurfaced.
Samantha Ware, who acted alongside Michele during the sixth season of "Glee," took to Twitter to voice her thoughts on Michele's casting, saying Broadway was "upholding whiteness."
"Yes, my dreams were tainted. Yes, Broadway upholds whiteness. Yes, Hollywood does the same. Yes, silence is complicity. Yes, I'm loud. Yes, I'd do it again," Ware wrote.
Two years ago, Ware took to Twitter, accusing Michele of making her life on "Glee" a "living hell," after Michele posted her support for the Black Lives Matter movement after the murder of George Floyd.
Ware claimed that Michele threatened to "s-t in my wig," telling Variety that Michele also threatened to have her fired from the show.
"She said I don't deserve to have that job," Ware told Variety. "She talked about how she has reign. And here's the thing: I completely understood that, and I was ready to be like, 'This is your show. I'm not here to be disrespectful.' But at that point, we were already past the respect and she was just abusing her power."
Most of Ware's criticism stems from the lack of accountability when it came to anyone in the industry directly addressing Michele's bullying, and now Ware isn't surprised to see Michele being rewarded even though she was the tormentor.
"Am I calling Lea a racist? No," Ware said. "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."
After Ware came forward with her accusations, Michele issued an apology to her former co-star in a lengthy statement on social media, promising to "be better in the future."
However Ware wasn't satisfied with Michele's apology, telling Variety that the actress "hasn't learned anything."
In a second tweet, Ware added: "Also. My name is not Amber Riley or Alex Newell. Their experience was not mine and mine was not theirs."
Glee cast members accused Lea Michele of creating a toxic work environment.
Newell and Riley were two other Black actors that starred in "Glee" with Michele, and while Riley never directly addressed her experience working with Michele, she did show support for Ware, and later said in an Instagram Live that the "Glee" set wasn't "the most comfortable environment" for her to work in.
Other "Glee" cast members have also spoken out about Michele's behavior towards them on set.
Actress Jeanté Godlock responded to Ware's original tweet in 2020 writing: "Did somebody say cockroaches? because that's what she used to refer to the background as on the set of glee. but we grow up and we don't stay background forever sooooo..."
Actor Dabier, who appeared in an episode of "Glee" in 2014 accused Michele of not letting him sit at a table with her and other cast members.
"Glee" costar Heather Morris also tweeted that Michele was "unpleasant to work with" and during an episode on the "Everything Iconic" podcast, Morris claimed that Michele's behavior on set was kept "hush-hush."
Nia Tipton is a writer living in Brooklyn. She covers pop culture, social justice issues, and trending topics. Keep up with her on Instagram and Twitter.