‘Glee’s Lea Michele Apologizes After Co-Star Accuses Her of Making Life “A Living Hell”

Glee star Lea Michele has issued a public apology after co-star Samantha Marie Ware accused her of making life “a living hell” on set. In a statement, Michele addressed the allegations head-on and apologized for acting “in ways that hurt other people,” particularly Black cast members. “I listened to these criticisms and I am listening,” said the actress, “And while I am very sorry, I will be better in the future from this experience.”

After a full day of controversy — during which Michele lost her HelloFresh endorsement deal and was publicly shamed by many of her Glee co-stars — Michele finally apologized in a statement issued to People and later posted on Instagram. “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 they face,” wrote the star.

Michele explained that her original tweet condemning police brutality was meant “as a show of support” following George Floyd’s death, but Ware’s tweet forced her to acknowledge her own privilege. “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,” continued Michele. “We all can grow and change and I have definitely used these past several months to reflect on my own shortcomings.”

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A post shared by Lea Michele (@leamichele) on Jun 3, 2020 at 4:03am PDT

This week, recurring Glee star Ware accused Michele of committing “traumatic microaggressions” against her on the set of the musical dramedy. Ware responded to a tweet Michele wrote about George Floyd, writing, “I believe you told everyone that if you had the opportunity you would, ‘Shit in my wig!'”

Ware has yet to respond publicly to Michele’s apology (she posted a “Logging Out” GIF on Tuesday night, so it’s possible she won’t be returning to Twitter for a few days), but a source told People that Michele “has reached out to a few of her former cast members and spoke to a couple of them” about the situation. Let’s hope Ware was at the top of that list.

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