Glee star Samantha Marie Ware says Lea Michele ‘lives in a world tailored to white people’ as she details alleged ‘abuse’
Lea Michele (L) was accused of making Samantha Marie Ware’s life a ‘living hell’ by the Glee star. (Rebecca Sapp/WireImage for The Recording Academy/Gregg DeGuire/Getty Images)
Glee star Samantha Marie Ware has said that the film and television industry is “tailored to white people” as she detailed the alleged abuse she experienced at the hands of co-star Lea Michele.
On June 2, Ware slammed Michele over a Black Lives Matter tweet, and claimed that the actor made her time working on the series a “living hell”.
In a new interview with Variety, the actor – who played Jane Hayward in Glee’s sixth season – detailed the persistent mistreatment she experienced from Michele during her one-season stint on the show.
Ware claimed “there was nothing gradual” about the treatment, and said it was “evident” Michele didn’t like her.
She said Michele subjected her to “the silent treatment, the stare-downs, the looks, the comments under her breath” and “the weird passive aggressiveness”.
“It all built up,” she added.
Samantha Marie Ware claimed Lea Michele threatened to have her fired from Glee.
Samantha Marie Ware claimed that, in one particularly distressing incident, Lea Michele threatened to have her fired.
“When you’re shooting a scene, sometimes the camera is on your and sometimes it’s not, but you still have to be in the scene,” Ware said.
“The camera wasn’t on us, so it’s not like we had to give a full throttle performance, but apparently, I was goofing around when the camera wasn’t on me, and she took that as me being disrespectful to her.”
Ware claimed that Michele stopped in the middle of the stage when they were finished shooting the scene and “did a ‘come here’ gesture, like how a mother does to their child”.
She told me to shut my mouth. She said I don’t deserve to have that job.
According to Ware, Michelle said: “You need to come here right now.”
“I said ‘no,’ and that’s when she decided to threaten my job, and said she would call Ryan Murphy in to come and fire me.”
The actor said the incident was “scary” and she was left terrified that she would lose her job.
“I was thinking I’m probably going to get an email and I might not be able to do the last three episodes, or I might not be able to sing another song.”
Ware said she Michele did not take kindly to her attempt to stand up for herself.
“She told me to shut my mouth. She said I don’t deserve to have that job.”
The alleged ‘s**t in your wig’ comment was ‘mortifying’, the actor said.
Samantha Ware also elaborated on her recent claim that Lea Michele once threatened to “s**t” in her wig, saying the incident occurred after Ware laughed when watching a scene.
She said Michele made the comment loud enough that other people could hear it.
“Some chuckled and some gasped. It was mortifying. The whole point was for her to embarrass me. People heard her, but no one was going to stand up to her.”
Ware also said that the comment was racially charged, noting: “Black women historically are known for their wigs.”
“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.”
The actor said she received a letter of apology from Michele through her representatives earlier this month.
Ware is not the only former Glee star to accuse Michele of mistreatment. Alex Newell and Amber Riley, who played two of the show’s most prominent Black characters, have appeared to back up the claims.
Furthermore, Heather Morris blasted Michele as “unpleasant” to work with.
Michele has apologised for the way her actions were perceived.
After Ware posted her initial tweet, Michele posted a statement to Instagram in which she apologised for the way her behaviour had been “perceived”.
In the winding statement, Michele said 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.”
PinkNews has contacted a representative for Lea Michele’s for comment.
