Glee's Lea Michele Posts Apology After Samantha Ware Called Her Out

*©2015 Fox Broadcasting Co. CR: Mike Yarish/FOX*

Today, Glee star Lea Michele apologized to Samantha Ware on Instagram. The apology comes two days after the actress took to Twitter to accuse Lea of verbally and emotionally abusing her during their time together on Glee season 6.

After Lea posted in support of Black Lives Matter, Samantha returned her tweet with a message, ““Remember when you made my first television gig a living hell?!?!” Samantha wrote. “Cause I’ll never forget. I believe you told everyone that if you had the opportunity you would ‘s**t in my wig!’ amongst other traumatic microaggressions that made me question a career in Hollywood.”

Read Lea’s apology below. Not mentioning Samantha by name makes the apology feel impersonal. Of course, she doesn’t “remember” the specific incident.

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. 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 my fellow cast members was perceived by them.

While I don’t remember ever making the 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 use 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 listen to these criticisms and I am learning and while I am very sorry, I will be better in the future from this experience.

Fellow Glee stars Alex Newell and Amber Riley tweeted cheeky memes in subtle support for Samantha. Also, Dabier, who appeared on a 2014 episode posted his own experience, “Girl you wouldn’t let me sit at the table with the other cast members cause I didn’t belong there,” he wrote, “F*** you Lea!”

And to add insult to injury, Gerard Canonico, an actor who understudied on Spring Awakening during the time Lea starred in the original Broadway production, posted an accusation on her apology post, which apparently, he had to post again after the first comment disappeard:

“You were nothing but a nightmare to me and fellow understudy cast members. You made us feel like we didn’t belong there. I tried for years to be nice to you to no avail. Maybe actually apologize instead of placing the blame on how others ‘perceive’ you,” he wrote.

Lea must be feeling the heat after one of her sponsors, Hello Fresh, dropped her.

HelloFresh does not condone racism nor discrimination of any kind. We are disheartened and disappointed to learn of the recent claims concerning Lea Michele. We take this very seriously, and have ended our partnership with Lea Michele, effective immediately.

— HelloFresh US (@HelloFresh) June 2, 2020

It’s remarkable that none of her co-stars have come out to support her.

UPDATE: And another Glee star piles on. Heather Morris who played the bisexual cheerleader, Brittany S. Pierce. Heather claims on Twitter that Lea was “unpleasant to work with.”

Let me be very clear, hate is a disease in America that we are trying to cure, so I would never wish for hate to be spread to anyone else. With that said, was she unpleasant to work with? Very much so; for Lea to treat others with the disrespect that she did for so long as she did, I believe she SHOULD be called out . And yet, it’s also on us because to allow it to go on for so long without speaking out is something else we’re learning along with the rest of society. But, at the current moment it’s implied that she is racist and although I cannot comment on her beliefs, I think we’re assuming and you know what happens when we all assume…

And Samantha Ware responds by suggesting Lea open her purse to support black social justice causes.

https://twitter.com/Sammie_Ware/status/1268241676402745344?s=20

UPDATE: When appearing on the podcast Real Quick with Danielle Young on Thursday to talk about the Black Lives Matter movement, of course she was asked about the Lea drama. Amber is here to say she doesn’t give AF. While there is obviously no love lost between the two actresses, Amber is not here to diss her former co-star. (Click to listen)

“I don’t give a s*** about this Lea Michele thing. I really don’t give a f***. I don’t. I don’t want to be asked about it — and I’m not talking to you, I’m talking about everyone else — I don’t give a s***. People are out here dying, being murdered by police. Trans women are being murdered by the hands of men who are upset about being trans attracted.”

Amber noted that she didn’t read Lea’s apology. But the actress did reach out to Amber.

“I responded to her and that’s where it ends for me. I ain’t talked to that girl in two years. I have no hatred or ill will on that end. I want to make that very clear. My life and what I talk about is not going to be about that. This is the first and last time I’m gonna say something. I wish Lea Michele well. I hope that she has an amazing pregnancy. I hope that she has grown.”