Glee’s Samantha Ware speaks out after Lea Michele cast in Funny Girl: ‘Silence is complicity’
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 Ware has spoken out after Lea Michele was cast in the lead role of Funny Girl.
Ware famously accused Michele of making her time on Glee “a living hell” in 2020, with a number of cast mates backing her at the time.
“Yes, I’m online today. Yes, I see y’all,” Ware tweeted after Michele was announced to be replacing Beanie Feldstein in Broadway’s Funny Girl .
“Yes, I care. Yes, I’m affected. Yes, I’m human. Yes, I’m Black. Yes, I was abused. Yes, my dreams were tainted. Yes, Broadway upholds whiteness. Yes, Hollywood does the same. Yes, silence is complicity. Yes, I’m loud. Yes, I’d do it again.”
Yes, I’m online today. Yes, I see y’all. Yes, I care. Yes, im affected. Yes, I’m human. Yes, I’m Black. Yes, I was abused. Yes, my dreams were tainted. Yes, Broadway upholds whiteness. Yes, Hollywood does the same. Yes, silence is complicity. Yes, I’m loud. Yes, I’d do it again.
— SAMEYA (@Sammie_Ware) July 11, 2022
Samantha Ware accused the Lea Michele of on-set bullying in June 2020, after Michele tweeted a message of solidarity to the Black Lives Matter demonstrations after the death of George Floyd.
In the since-deleted tweet, Ware wrote: “REMEMBER WHEN YOU MADE MY FIRST TELEVISION GIG A LIVING HELL?!?! CAUSE I’LL NEVER FORGET.”
She then accused Michele of threatening to “s**t in my wig” if she “had the opportunity,” among other “traumatic microaggressions” that she said made her question her career path.
Several other Glee stars appeared to show their support for Ware at the time, including season six co-star Billy Lewis J, Alex Newell, Amber Riley, and Dabier Snell.
Michele would later deny the specific allegations in an Instagram post but would apologise, saying 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 [to s**t in Ware’s wig] 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.”
