Lea Michele slammed for non-apology to Samantha Ware saying she doesn't even remember 's*** in my wig' episode
Former ‘Glee’ star Lea Michele apologized to Samantha Marie Ware, her co-star from the show, after the latter accused her of “tormenting” her on the set of the Ryan Murphy show. On May 30, Michele took to Twitter to talk about George Floyd’s death and the Black Lives Matter movement.
However, Ware made shocking revelations in response to it and said, “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*** in my wig!’, amongst other traumatic microaggressions that made me question a career in Hollywood.”
On Wednesday, June 3, 33-year-old Michele shared her apology.
Michele told People magazine in a statement that she later shared on her Instagram as well, “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.”
“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,” she said, referring to her BLM tweet, “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.”
Despite the apology, Michele denied ever making the comment Ware accused her of. Michele said, “While I don’t remember ever making this specific statement and I have never judged others by their background or color of their skin, that’s not really the point. What matters is that I clearly acted in ways which hurt other people.”
“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,” said Michele further. “We all can grow and change and I have definitely used these past several months to reflect on my own shortcomings.”
She ended her statement with, “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.”
While many on social media appreciated Michele’s unconditional apology, there were those as well who seemed unconvinced. A Twitter user wrote, “I have been waiting to see what Lea Michele’s non-apology was going to look like and she did not disappoint!”
Journalist Ashley Spencer commented, “Lea Michele’s lengthy Notes app apology manages to include the phrase, ‘Whether it was my privileged position and perspective that caused me to be perceived as insensitive or inappropriate…’ How hard is it to take out the ‘perceived as? Just admit you WERE those things.”
Others were also not too happy about how Michele could not remember Ware’s accusation regarding, “I believe you told everyone that if you had the opportunity, you would ‘s*** in my wig!’”
Some even pointed out that her apology was driven by the meal kit company HelloFresh ending its partnership with her following the accusation. "HelloFresh does not condone racism nor discrimination of any kind,” the company said in a statement on Twitter on Tuesday, June 2. “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.”
Although, according to People magazine, a source close to the actor said that “the partnership was nearing its conclusion regardless.”
Ware is yet to react to the apology on her Twitter.