Actress Lea Michele has issued an apology following statements by her former co-stars accusing her of mean remarks and bullying on the set of Glee.
Michele took to Instagram June 3 to issue her mea culpa.
“While I don’t remember ever making this specific statement and I have never judged others by their background or color of their skin,” Michele wrote, “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 apologize for my behavior and for any pain which I have caused.”
Related: Lea Michele Ends Silence About Cory Monteith’s Death, Saying He’ll Forever Be In Her Heart
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“I listened to these criticisms and I am learning and while I am very sorry, I will be better in the future from this experience,” she concluded.
Michele’s apology comes after remarks from former Glee co-stars Samantha Ware, Amber Riley and Alex Newell, accusing Michele of cruel treatment on set. Ware claimed Michele made work on the show “living hell” and “told everyone that if you had the opportunity you would ‘sh*t in my wig.'” Riley and Newell both appeared to corroborate Ware’s accusations. Meanwhile, drag queen Willam also hinted at unpleasant behavior by Michele on the set of Glee–behavior so rude, it prompted him to quit the show.
Within 24 hours of the tweet-storm, cookery brand HelloFresh dropped Michele as its spokesperson.
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
Cam
Celebrities are allowed to act like monsters and that needs to stop. Even now, in reporting on this story People Magazine doesn’t mention the other castmates who backup the accusations and they spend most of the article writing fluff about Michele’s pregnancy, marriage and anything to deflect from the acusations.
The celeb press is all about covering up for abusers, racists, bullies, etc.
HankHarris
PERCEIVED. this is the key word in any celebrity NON-APOLOGY.
GayMafiaKingpin
That, and she said “we” a lot, as in “WE need to take the time to listen and learn,” which isn’t exactly taking responsibility.
Bromancer7
Exactly. That was an apology? “I don’t remember doing anything wrong and I’m so sorry you were offended”. F*ck this bitch.
Fang
Yeh she missed the mark. Which is unsurprising bc her interviews and social media show that she really IS Rachel Berry.
Brian
Several other people have since made comments about how horrible she was to work with. Apparently she is the new Ellen, although I can’t imagine anyone is too shocked with Lea.
On the plus side, this should put an end to her endless parade of staged paparazzi photos, at least for awhile. She’ll probably abort the baby now, since she won’t be able to use it for the publicity she intended.
TMBisAOK
It just amazes(disgusts) me when somebody makes a valid observation about someone and then they themselves make such an outrageous statement that they themselves should be ostracized also. Yah, I’m talking about you.
TedV
Dude. I was with you until that last sentence.
Cam
I remember after the Glee actor Corey Monteith died of an overdose, (They were supposedly dating, but who knows if it was a P.R. thing)
She right away tried to put out a song in honor of him……AND CHARGE FOR IT!
So….not overly surprised.
DuMaurier
Well, at last. The one thing the George Floyd story was missing is a good old-fashioned Hollywood catfight.
Acranox242
You’d have never imagined as Glee premiered, the level of controversy that would come out of its cast – drug overdoses, on set bullying, Pedophilia, suicide, etc.
EddieB
Stop the presses! Young Hollywood star acted mean.
batesmotel
I’ve been hearing from others for years that she was an entitled diva on the Glee set, so the allegations against her by her former co-workers isn’t new. I’m surprised she’s acting as if she never knew about them. She is trying to quickly backtrack and apologize because she knows this will also damage whatever is left of her career. To be honest, I haven’t heard much about her since Glee as it is. Surprised she had sponsorship deals at all. Thought her fifteen minutes of fame ended when Glee ended. Guess she still has many gays supporting her. Also surprising is that she has no self-awareness to her behavior. I don’t need anyone to tell me how horrible I might have been at 20 as I already know I was bad.
Den
I never really understood why her character was the central character of the show. So many of the others were more intriguing and less privileged/self absorbed/clueless. And her singing style is directly ripped off from Streisand with no personal or creative additions.
If however you were a fan of Alex Newell, by all means check out Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist. While not the best or most well constructed show, it has some great moments. Newell has a leading role and does some great singing.
TommyIL
Have to disagree about Zoey’s…the show is very well produced, with thoughtfully crafted storylines that are both poignant and funny. I laugh and cry, watching all by myself, at every episode. Perhaps that’s not the ultimate standard in a “well constructed show” but it’s got great performances, is entertaining and moving. I think it out-glees Glee.
Jared MacBride
It took “the last few weeks” for her to figure out she ought to be a decent human being. Good grief – another “apology” that makes things worse.
Inspector 57
She is seriously making me want to write one of the two words that I have vowed never to use.
dustychiffon
This is by definition how NOT to write an “apology.”
I’m sure her PR rep rolled their eyes when she made her final decision on how to word this thing. It reeks of bs. Classic phrases like “perceived by them” -or – “Don’t recall saying that.”
The best part was the classic spin of saying “we” at every turn. I gave her props for trying to spin the conversation into a “communal reflection moment” on basic civil douchery… but it didn’t work.
Troysky
@dustychiffon …well said. She acts like it’s all new and she had no idea, but is now carefully trying to understand….. yeah, right.
@Jared MacBride…. also well said.
…..just really don’t want to hear about her anymore…… next.
Cam
Two things very upsetting about this.
Ryan Murphy ran Glee, and the P.R. machine has for YEARS said that Jonathan Groff and Lea Michele are best friends, in fact, he was man of honor at her wedding.
So does this mean that Ryan Murphy, who has been so good about doing storylines against LGBT people being bullied, against racism, and against bigotry allowed this type of abuse by Michele on his set?
And that Groff, a famous “out” actor, as her best friend, who worked with her in Spring Awakening, and in Glee, at best sat back while she abused multiple people or at worst participated?
I really hope they were unaware, but not sure how that could be.
TommyIL
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a celeb or politician mea culpa or apology that ever earned forgiveness, at least from online commenters. Can anyone think of an example? Not making excuses for Lea Michele or anyone else–abhorrent behavior is disgraceful no matter who you are. But I’m curious what people would deem a “sincere apology”? I suppose words are never gonna cut it anyway; it’s future actions that will matter. So should celebrities not even try to apologize and simply start doing better? Maybe they should just say, “I’m sorry. I was wrong. I’m going to be better.”
Paton41
What does Jonathan Groff see in her? As her gay husband he should drop her!
smm7_11
When was Willam Belli ever on Glee? I looked through his IMDB page along with Wikipedia and never showed any episodes that he appeared on. Just was wondering because I don’t know how you can support the comments that were made by someone if you weren’t actually on the show.