As Lea Michele is slowly but surely getting back into the limelight, there appear to be a few things she wanted to set the record straight on. Two years ago, the actress was “canceled” on social media amid claims she had made a string of racist comments to former “Glee” co-star Samantha Ware, whom she was also alleged to have threatened to get fired off the show and once told her she wanted to poop in her wig.
This later led a handful of other cast and crew members to speak out about their unpleasant time working with Michele, who was often considered quite the diva on set — a statement that was backed by the late Naya Rivera, who, according to Daily Mail, complained to executives back in 2014 about her colleague’s ongoing tantrums that were disrupting people from doing their job.
Lea Michele saying she made enemies with the glee cast bcz she’s a perfectionist when I’m reality it’s bcz of racism and transphobia
— Nicolas is in renaissance (@niggaolas) September 1, 2022
But in a new interview with The New York Times, Michele says that her past not-so-nice conduct was a result of her “really hard” work ethic as an actress. “I have an edge to me. I work really hard. I leave no room for mistakes,” she said. “That level of perfectionism, or that pressure of perfectionism, left me with a lot of blind spots.”
Last month, it was announced that Michele would be making her Broadway comeback after landing the lead role in “Funny Girl,” which is her first major acting gig since she found herself in endless controversy two years ago. People on social media were outraged that Michele was still being considered for work in the entertainment industry considering what so many people have said about her attitude, but it’s apparent by her latest interview that she wants people to know she’s changed her ways.
“There’s a rumor online that I can’t read or write? It’s sad. It really is. I think often if I were a man, a lot of this wouldn’t be the case.”
— Lea Michele addresses rumors that she’s illiterate. pic.twitter.com/d0GWaVtC5J
— Pop Base (@PopBase) September 1, 2022
In the summer of 2020, Ware lashed out against Michele when she showed her support for the Black Lives Matter movement following the death of George Floyd in May of that same year. Ware was outraged that Michele would publicly show her support for the killing of a black man but seemingly had no problem making the life of a black woman a misery by taunting and threatening her on several occasions while working on “Glee.”
“LMAO REMEMBER WHEN YOU MADE MY FIRST TELEVISON GIG A LIVING HELL?!?!” Ware wrote to Michele on Twitter at the time. “CAUSE ILL NEVER FORGET. I BELIEVE YOU TOLD EVERYONE THAT IF TOU HAD THE OPPORTUNITY YOU WOULD ‘S–T IN MY WIG!’ AMONGST OTHER TRAUMATIC MICROAGRESSIONS THAT MADE ME QUESTION A CAREER IN HOLLYWOOD…”