Lea Michele Responded To Those Glee Bullying And Racism Allegations
She said she had "a lot of blind spots."
Ahead of her debut as Fanny Brice in Funny Girl on Broadway, Lea Michele is addressing allegations of racism and mistreatment on the set of Glee that surfaced in 2020. After the death of George Floyd in May 2020, Michele shared her support for the Black Lives Matter movement in a since-deleted tweet. Her statement was quickly met with backlash from some of Michele’s former Glee co-stars — namely, Samantha Ware, Dabier Snell, and Heather Morris — who came forward sharing their own experiences working with Michele on the set of Ryan Murphy’s musical show.
Ware tweeted that Michele had made her life on set “a living hell” with her “traumatic microaggressions,” while Snell claimed Michele “wouldn't let [him] sit at the table with the other cast members cause '[he] didn't belong there.’” Fellow Glee stars Alex Newell and Amber Riley also chimed in.
Michele alluded to these accusations in a Sept. 1 The 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.” She went on to say that the expectations of being a child star on Broadway put her in a “semi-robotic state.”
Michele first apologized for her past behavior shortly after Ware’s accusations in 2020, acknowledging in an Instagram statement that her actions hurt others. “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,” she wrote. “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.”
Starring in Broadway’s Funny Girl is Michele’s biggest role since the accusations, and her return to the spotlight has come with scrutiny. On Jul. 11, Beanie Feldstein, who originated the role of Fanny Brice in the current production of Funny Girl, said she was leaving the show. Shortly after, Michele was announced as one of her replacements, alongside Broadway star Julie Benko.
This spurred Ware to reportedly allude to Michele’s casting in a tweet from her now-private account on the day of Michele’s casting announcement. BuzzFeed News reports Ware tweeted, “Yes, I’m online today. Yes, I see y’all. Yes, I care. Yes, im affected. Yes, I’m human. Yes, I’m Black. Yes, I was abused. 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.”
Michele is set to make her debut as Fanny Brice on Sept. 6.
