Samantha Ware has shed some light on why she decided to call out Lea Michele for her behavior on the set of the Fox musical series, Glee. Ware says that after landing roles in the Las Vegas stage production of The Lion King, the Chicago production of Hamilton, and in The Book of Mormon on Broadway, she was ecstatic to earn her first-ever TV gig on Glee. But, Michele was a nightmare from day one.
Ware played the role of Jane Hayward – one of the “new kids” in Season 6 – and her first musical number was Janelle Monae’s Tightrope. However, after she finished filming that scene, Ware says that Michele immediately gave her the cold shoulder.
#Glee's Samantha Ware: "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" https://t.co/IKRSjJ9nrP
— Variety (@Variety) June 11, 2020
“I knew from day one when I attempted to introduce myself. There was nothing gradual about it. As soon as she decided that she didn’t like me, it was very evident,” Ware told Variety. “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.”
Ware claims that Michele went as far as threatening her job in front of the rest of the cast and crew, but she never reported the behavior to the network or studio because she didn’t know that was an option.
She says that Michele’s diva behavior wasn’t a secret and it was a common thing, so her case didn’t seem like that big of a deal because everyone else put up with it. On her first day, Ware says that she actually spoke up about Michele, but no one did anything. Instead, they just shrugged it off and claimed it was classic Michele behavior.
“No one was stopping these things, which is an issue because the environment was helping perpetuate this abuse,” says Ware.
Samantha Ware first called out Lea Michele after she tweeted about George Floyd’s murder and the Black Lives Matter protests. Ware accused Michele of making her first job on TV “a living hell,” and making traumatic microaggressions that made Ware question her career in Hollywood.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CA-HatxlQ6h/
A number of Michele’s former co-workers have also spoken out about her mean girl behavior on the set of Glee, and just about every other show she’s been a part of. However, Amber Riley isn’t convinced that it is racially motivated.
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Riley says that is the assumption because of what is going on in the world right now, and because a black person called Michele out for her behavior. Heather Morris admitted that Michele was terrible to everyone and no one tried to stop her. It appears that Michele is just mean to everyone.
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