Lea Michele has issued an apology after “Glee” costar Samantha Marie Ware accused her of creating a bad work environment on the set of the show.
The exchange began after Michele posted a message on social media Friday, “George Floyd did not deserve this. This was not an isolated incident and it must end,” she wrote. Michele included the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter.
Ware responded to Michele’s tweet and wrote she’ll never forget the way she felt Michele treated her during their time working together on “Glee,” calling it a “living hell.”
“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— in my wig!’ amongst other traumatic microaggressions that made me question a career in Hollywood,” Ware tweeted.
Michele’s partnership with HelloFresh was terminated by the company following Ware’s comments
“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 announced on social media.
“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,” Michele continued. “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.”
Michele said she doesn’t remember “ever making this specific statement.”
“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. “We all can grow and change and I have definitely used these past several months to reflect on my own shortcomings. I am a couple of months from becoming a mother and I know I need to keep working to better myself and take responsibility for my actions, so that I can be a real role model for my child and so I can pass along my lessons and mistakes, so that they can learn from me. 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.”
(Excerpt) Read more @ CNN