Samantha Marie Ware Confronts On-Set Racism and Bullying
Former Glee star Samantha Marie Ware has opened up about the traumatic harassment and microaggressions that she faced at the hands of co-star Lea Michele while working on Fox’s hit musical series.
Ware opened up about Michele’s misconduct on June 2nd in response to a tweet in which her former co-star demanded justice for George Floyd. Citing the irony of Michele supporting racial equality, Ware replied with the following:
LMAO REMEMBER WHEN YOU MADE MY FIRST TELEVISON GIG A LIVING HELL?!?! CAUSE ILL NEVER FORGET. I BELIEVE YOU TOLD EVERYONE THAT IF TOU HAD THE OPPORTUNITY YOU WOULD “SHIT IN MY WIG!” AMONGST OTHER TRAUMATIC MICROAGRESSIONS THAT MADE ME QUESTION A CAREER IN HOLLYWOOD… https://t.co/RkcaMBmtDA
— SAMEYAAAAAA (@Sammie_Ware) June 2, 2020
Ware was not alone in her stance against Michele’s history of racially inappropriate behavior. Fellow Glee alums Amber Riley, Alex Newell, and Dabier Snell quickly voiced their support of Ware. Snell corroborated Ware’s claims with an anecdote about Michele, in which he described Michele’s unwillingness to let him sit at the same table as other cast members.
GIRL YOU WOULDNT LET ME SIT AT THE TABLE WITH THE OTHER CAST MEMBERS CAUSE “I DIDNT BELONG THERE” FUCK YOU LEA https://t.co/s4NoLdtqRs
— Dabier (@OfficialDabier) June 2, 2020
Although Michele denied the merit of these claims against her, she issued a public apology. In her apology, Michele stated, “While I don’t remember ever making this specific statement and I have never judged others by their background or color of their skin (…) I clearly acted in ways which hurt other people.”
Although Ware has not publically responded to Michele’s statement, she has remained active in her support of the Black Lives Matter movement on social media. We hope that Ware’s willingness to share her adverse experiences on Glee will inspire other actors to call out racist on-set behaviors.
