*Actress Samantha Ware is speaking out about why she put her former “Glee” co-star Lea Michele on blast over comments she made about the Black Lives Matter movement.
“When you tweet, ‘Black lives matter,’ that would mean you have an understanding of what that hashtag means, but it’s clear that it doesn’t,” Ware told Variety. “Does Lea even know what a microaggression is? I don’t know. All that her apology did was affirm that she hasn’t learned anything.”
Ware played Jane Hayward on the sixth season of the show and she previously revealed via Twitter that Lea made her experience on set “a living hell.”
She believes the Broadway star “suffers from a symptom of living in this world in an industry that is tailored to white people.”
According to Ware, the tension began from her first day on set when Michele allegedly “decided that she didn’t like” her.
“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,” Ware said. “It all built up.”
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She also recalled the time Michele tried to reprimanded her for “goofing off” on set.
“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 claimed. “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 told Variety that many cast and crew members ignored Michele’s diva antics.
“Lea’s actions were nothing new, so I guess since it was such a common thing, my case didn’t seem like that big of a deal,” she said. “I remember the first day I actually spoke up and unfortunately no one did anything. They just shrugged it off, like ‘That’s her.’ No one was stopping these things, which is an issue because the environment was helping perpetuate this abuse.”
The actress hopes more people of color in Hollywood will continue to have the courage to speak up about the injustices they experience on set.
“You can put color in the room, but if you don’t let them talk or speak or share their side, we’re not getting anywhere,” she said. “There are such imbalances of power and structures that have been fully embedded for years that just need to crumble at this point. Everyone needs to feel heard and be validated.”
Meanwhile, after other former “Glee” stars chimed in with similar allegations about Lea Michele, the actress issued an apology that said in part, “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 being unnecessarily difficult, I apologize for my behavior and for any pain which I have caused.”
As a result of the backlash, Michele lost a sponsorship with HelloFresh.
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