Lea Michele's former 'Glee' costar calls her out over 'Funny Girl' casting: 'Yes, I was abused'

• Lea Michele's former "Glee" costar has criticized her casting in the Broadway show "Funny Girl."
• After Michele's casting was announced, Samantha Ware alluded to being "abused" by Michele.

Lea Michele's former "Glee" costar has criticized her casting in the Broadway revival of "Funny Girl."

In 2020, Samantha Ware accused Michele of mistreating her on the set of "Glee" after Michele posted her support for the Black Lives Matter movement in the days that followed the murder of George Floyd.

Ware claimed that Michele made her first television role "a living hell" and threatened to "shit in my wig." Ware also told Variety that Michele threatened to get her fired from the show.

Other "Glee" cast members also came forward at the time and accused Michele of "racist microaggressions," which led to the actor apologizing in a statement on Instagram.

However, Ware brought up the controversy again Monday, saying Broadway was "upholding whiteness" by casting Michele, who is set to replace Beanie Feldstein in "Funny Girl" in September.

"Yes, I'm online today. Yes, I see y'all. Yes, I care. Yes, im affected. Yes, I'm human. Yes, I'm Black. Yes, I was abused," Ware tweeted. "Yes, my dreams were tainted. Yes, Broadway upholds whiteness. Yes, Hollywood does the same. Yes, silence is complicity. Yes, I'm loud. Yes, I'd do it again."

—SAMEYA (@Sammie_Ware) July 11, 2022

In a later tweet, Ware added: "Also. My name is not Amber Riley or Alex Newell. Their experience was not mine and mines was not theirs."

Newell and Riley were two other Black actors that starred in "Glee." While Riley did not directly comment on Michele, she did show her support for Ware on Twitter, and later said during an Instagram Live conversation with journalist Danielle Young that the "Glee" set was "not the most comfortable environment" to work in.

Other stars have also made comments about Michele being unpleasant to them or other actors.

"Daybreak" actor Jeanté Godlock responded to Ware's original tweet in 2020 saying: "Did somebody say cockroaches? because that's what she used to refer to the background as on the set of glee. but we grow up and we don't stay background forever sooooo..."

—Jeanté Godlock (@jeantegodlock) June 2, 2020

Dabier, who appeared in a "Glee" episode in 2014, wrote: "GIRL YOU WOULDNT LET ME SIT AT THE TABLE WITH THE OTHER CAST MEMBERS CAUSE 'I DIDNT BELONG THERE' FUCK YOU LEA."

"Glee" costar Heather Morris also tweeted that Michele was "unpleasant to work with" and later said on the "Everything Iconic" podcast that Michele's behavior was kept "hush-hush" on the set.

Insider has reached out to representatives for Michele for comment.