Lea Michele backlash continues as Glee and Broadway co-stars pile on criticism
Heather Morris (L) is the latest former Glee actor to lit into Lea Michele. (Rodin Eckenroth/Getty Images/Roy Rochlin/Getty Images)
Heather Morris is the latest Glee star to speak out about the “unpleasant” behaviour of former colleague Lea Michele.
In the brewing backlash, Morris, who played Brittany Pierce in the Ryan Murphy show, both dragged and defended Michele in a statement posted to Twitter Wednesday evening (June 3).
She skewered the musical theatre actor as “unpleasant” to work work, alleging that Michele would treat the cast with “disrespect”. However, she urged people not to “assume” that Michele is a “racist”.
— heather (@HeatherMorrisTV) June 3, 2020
Michele was also assailed by Broadway actor Gerard Canonico, who called her a “nightmare” to work with and rejected the singer’s apology about the situation.
Samatha Ware, who played newcomer Jane Hayward in the show’s sixth season, threw spikes under Michele’s feet after she said in an explosive tweet that prompted several of her former co-stars to speak out against Michele.
She blasted Michele for making her first acting gig a “living hell” and accused her of threatening to “s**t” in her wig.
Heather Morris is latest Glee actor to speak out against Lea Michele.
“Let me be very clear,” Morris wrote, “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 as 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 is implied that she is a racist and although I cannot comment on her beliefs, I think we’re assuming, and you know what happens when we all assume…”
It all erupted after Michele sent a tweet of solidarity towards the Black Lives Matter movement, which struck a thorny chord with Ware.
https://twitter.com/Sammie_Ware/status/1267632171570745345?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1267632171570745345&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.pinknews.co.uk%2Fwp-admin%2Fpost.php%3Fpost%3D502570%26action%3Dedit
Since then, a roster of Glee stars such as Amber Riley, Alex Newell who played the show’s most prominent Black characters, Mercedes Jones and Unique Adams, alongside Billy Lewis Jr and countless alleged background characters have thrown their support to Ware.
Glee star claims she ‘doesn’t remember’ threatening to ‘s**t in wig’ of co-star.
Michele has since apologised, although, not for what she allegedly did, but for how it was perceived.
In a winding Instagram statement uploaded Wednesday, Michele said that the messages “have made me focus… on how my own behaviour 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 colour 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 apologise for my behaviour and for any pain which I have caused.”
Canonico, 30, who was an understudy in the original Spring Awakening starring Michele, joined the chorus of criticism. He commented on Michele’s apology post but it, he claimed, was deleted.
SPRING AWAKENING castmember Gerard Canonico has weighed in, calling Michele “nothing but a nightmare.” pic.twitter.com/wCJcSmbgsn
— Ξvan Ross Katz (@evanrosskatz) June 3, 2020
“You were nothing but a nightmare to me and fellow understudy cast members. You made us feel like we didn’t belong there,” Canonico wrote in a re-uploaded comment.
“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.”
PinkNews contacted Lea Michele’s representatives for comment.
