Samantha Ware Exposes More Shocking Details About The Bullying She Received From Former ‘Glee’ Costar Lea Michele
As the #BlackLive Matters protests continue around the world, racism is sadly continuing to rare its ugly head as many businesses and people are being exposed for their racial discrimination and intimidation towards Black people in Hollywood.
Actress Lea Michele is on the list for racial intimidation.
Earlier this month, Glee actress Samantha Ware spoke out on Twitter about the disturbing interactions she allegedly had with her former co-star, which included being humiliated her in front of the cast and crew.
According to Ware, in addition to the public humiliation, the 33-year-old actress also allegedly threatened to have the creator of the show, Ryan Murphy, fire her from the Fox series.
Keep scrolling to see the other shocking details Ware revealed about her situationship with Michele, who reportedly made her life a “living hell.”
“I knew from day one when I attempted to introduce myself. There was nothing gradual about it. As soon as she decided that she didn’t like me, it was very evident,” Ware tells Variety in an exclusive interview. “It was after I did my first performance, that’s when it started – the silent treatment, the stare-downs, the looks, the comments under her breath, the weird passive-aggressiveness. It all built up.”
Over time, their relationship got aggressively worse with insults, threats of firing, and overall disrespect.
There was an incident when Ware says that Michele chastised her in front of the cast and crew during a large scene shot in an auditorium.
According to Ware, she believes that she unintentionally offended Michele. “When you’re shooting a scene, sometimes the camera is on you and sometimes it’s not, but you still have to be in the scene,” Ware says. “The camera wasn’t on us, so it’s not like we had to give a full-throttle performance, but apparently, I was goofing around when the camera wasn’t on me, and she took that as me being disrespectful to her.”
Ware says no one voiced any concern with her, not even the director of the episode, so she was shocked when Michele read her the business. “She waited until the scene was over and she stopped in the middle of the stage and did a ‘come here’ gesture, like how a mother does to their child,” Ware explains.
Michele demanded, “You need to come here right now,” according to Ware, who says she politely declined to walk to the center of the stage to be further humiliated in front of extras and dancers. “I said ‘no,’ and that’s when she decided to threaten my job and said she would call Ryan Murphy in to come and fire me.”
Ware made it clear that she is not aware of whether or not Michele spoke with Murphy about the incident, but she admitted that she was in total awe by the threat. “It’s scary. For the full week, I was thinking I’m probably going to get an email and I might not be able to do the last three episodes, or I might not be able to sing another song.”
After the incident, Ware says she had a chat with Michele, who reminded her that she was the HBIC. “When I tried to speak up for myself, she told me to shut my mouth. She said I don’t deserve to have that job,” Ware recalls. “She talked about how she has reign. And here’s the thing: I completely understood that, and I was ready to be like, ‘This is your show. I’m not here to be disrespectful.’ But at that point, we were already past the respect and she was just abusing her power.”
Ware also explained the “s**t in my wig” statement that she posted in her Twitter sound off. Ware says that the actress made the comment during an intimate cast screening lunch break on set. “She had an issue because I had laughed [when watching a scene] and that’s when the ‘I’m going to s–t in your wig’ comment happened,” Ware recalls.
She said that she said it loud enough for others to hear, but no one spoke up. “Some chuckled and some gasped. It was mortifying. The whole point was for her to embarrass me. People heard her, but no one was going to stand up to her.”
Ware believes that the statement was racially charged because “Black women historically are known for their wigs, “she says.
Michele’s team reached out to Ware, but she declined to provide her personal contact information to Michele, asking her to contact her representatives, who received a personal email from Michele on Jun. 3 with an apology letter.
Michele also made a statement on her Instagram page.
Since Ware’s tweet, many celebrities have backed up her claims that Michele is not a very nice person to work with including Yvette Nicole Brown, Amber Wiley, and Dabier Snell, who said Michele wouldn’t let him sit at a table with her when he had a guest role on “Glee” in 2014, stating he “didn’t belong there.”
Since the recent allegations, Michele lost an endorsement deal with HelloFresh; the grocery-delivery service cited a zero-tolerance policy of racism and discrimination in terminating its relationship with the actor.
Ware is doing what she can to promote equality by using her voice. Along with Amber Riley, Ware has launched a social media movement with the hashtag #unMUTEny, which encourages people of color to share their stories of intimidation and discrimination in the workplace.
“I would love to be someone behind the table and at the table making room for others at the table,” Ware says. “Even my skin and my presence is an act of liberation and defiance and joy, so for me to be in a room that I was never intended to be in is enough. I believe I do good work, and I believe that I try to give as much love and respect to the people around me.”
