Chris Colfer’s Reaction To Lea Michele In Funny Girl Left Me Speechless
He did not just say that, did he?
Ever since Lea Michele made her debut as Fanny Brice in Broadway’s Funny Girl revival on Sept. 6, several of Michele’s famous friends have made the trip to New York City to see her perform, including Jonathan Groff, Darren Criss, Jamie Lee Curtis, and more. One person you won’t see in the Funny Girl audience anytime soon, however, is Michele’s former Glee co-star Chris Colfer.
While appearing on the latest episode of The Michelle Collins Show on Oct. 11, Colfer (who played Kurt Hummel on the hit Fox series from 2009 to 2015) passed on an invitation to see Funny Girl. “By the way, Chrissy, guess what I'm doing tonight?” host Michelle Collins asked Colfer. “Oh my God, you should come, if you're here.”
Of course, Colfer knew exactly where this conversation was going. “Oh no, are you seeing Funny Girl?” he asked. When Collins revealed she was, Colfer responded with a simple “Oh,” which caused Collins to laugh hysterically. “My day suddenly just got so full,” Colfer said. His excuse left Collins (and me) in disbelief. “Wow! Chris! No!” Collins said.
The host explained she had previously seen Beanie Feldstein in Funny Girl, so because Michele had now taken up the mantle as Fanny, Collins felt like she needed to see the actor’s take on the character as well. While Colfer had nothing else to say about Funny Girl, he did note he recently saw Six on Broadway and called the show “amazing.”
“So, you're not seeing [Funny Girl] is my guess, while you're in town?” Collins asked again. “No, I can be triggered at home,” Colfer said.
Colfer stayed true to his word because that night, Collins posted a video of her outside the August Wilson Theatre in front of the Funny Girl sign, with Colfer nowhere in sight. “Went to Funny Girl by myself bc Chris wouldn’t come with me lol,” Collins captioned a follow-up post promoting her interview with Colfer.
So, what’s the deal with Colfer and Michele? Well, over the past few years, several stars have accused Michele of having created a toxic work environment on the set of Glee. In June 2020, Samantha Ware, who played Jane Hayward in the series’ final season, said Michele made her Glee experience “a living hell” due to the Scream Queens star making “traumatic microaggressions” toward her. “I believe you told everyone that if you had the opportunity you would ‘sh*t in my wig!’” Ware reportedly tweeted about Michele at the time.
Shortly afterward, Michele apologized for her past behavior in a June 2020 Instagram statement. “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,” Michele wrote.
Since then, other Glee stars like Dabier Snell and Heather Morris have accused Michele of toxic on-set behavior as well. Michele appeared to reference the bullying and racism accusations again in a Sept. 1 New York Times profile. “I have an edge to me. I work really hard. I leave no room for mistakes,” she said. “That level of perfectionism, or that pressure of perfectionism, left me with a lot of blind spots.”
Michele has yet to respond to Colfer’s Funny Girl comments.
