Lea Michele has issued an apology just days after her former Glee co-star Samantha Marie Ware accused the actress of making life on set a “living hell.”
Michele wrote in a statement Wednesday on Instagram: “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. What matters is that I clearly acted in ways which hurt other people.”
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The social media dustup began Friday when Michele posted a message about George Floyd’s death at the hands of a Minnesota police officer.
“George Floyd did not deserve this. This was not an isolated incident and it must end,” Michele wrote along with the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter.
In response to Michele’s tweet, Ware wrote: “Remember when you made my first television gig a living hell?!?! 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.”
https://twitter.com/Sammie_Ware/status/1267632171570745345
Following Ware‘s comments, Michele was terminated from her campaign partnership with meal-kit company, HelloFresh.
“HelloFresh does not condone racism nor discrimination of any kind. We are disheartened and disappointed to learn of the recent claims concerning Lea Michele,” the company said on social media.
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
Michele said she didn’t specifically remember the wig comment that Ware referred to, but apologized for her behavior toward her co-stars.
“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 fellow cast members was perceived by them.”
“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,” she wrote.
Heather Morris, another Glee co-star, also weighed in Wednesday on her Twitter account.
“Let me be very clear, Hate is a disease in America that we are trying to cure, so I would never wish for that 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,” Morris wrote. “”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 its 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…”
— heather (@HeatherMorrisTV) June 3, 2020
Michele and Morris co-starred all six season of Glee as Rachel Berry and Brittany Pierce, respectively. Ware played a recurring role of Jane Hayward during the sixth and final season of the Ryan Murphy series.
Glee, a musical-comedy about a group of talented high school students joining a glee club, ran on Fox from 2009 to 2015.
