When Lea Michele was first catapulted to fame, playing Rachel Berry in TV hit Glee, her on screen persona of a slightly nerdy theatre kid almost bled into real life. She came across as an earnest, passionate actress thrilled to have her shot at the big time. But earlier this week one of her Glee co-stars - Samantha Ware - came forward to accuse her of making her own time on the show 'a living hell.' Since then, more actors have spoken out, and things have escalated.
Sammie, who appeared in the sixth season of Glee, responded to a tweet by Lea Michele relating to the death of George Floyd in the US. She tweeted: 'LMAO 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**t in my wig!" Amongst other traumatic microaggressions that made me question a career in Hollywood.'
Amber Riley, who starred alongside Lea ever since the first episode, interjected cryptically, via the medium of GIFs. Other individuals - including drag star Willam and Glee's Heather Morris - have confirmed that Lea was 'very' difficult to work with on the set, and other rumours of diva-like behaviour have spread on Twitter.
Following the initial accusations from Samantha, HelloFresh have now dropped the actress from an endorsement deal. 'HelloFresh does not condone racism nor discrimination of any kind,' the company said in a statement. 'We are disheartened and disappointed to learn of the recent claims concerning Lea Michele. We take this very seriously and have ended our partnership with Lea Michele, effective immediately.'
Lea has now apologised, writing a lengthy statement on her Instagram. 'I apologize for my behavior and for any pain which I have caused,' she wrote. 'One of the most important lessons of the last few weeks is that we need to take the time to listen and learn about other people’s perspectives and any role we have played or anything we can do to help address the injustices that they face.'
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