Samantha Ware said Lea Michele threatened to have her fired for goofing around during a scene in 'Glee'
- In an interview with Variety, Samantha Ware said that her "Glee" costar Lea Michele threatened to have her fired after she goofed around on-set.
- Ware said: "She decided to threaten my job, and said she would call Ryan Murphy in to come and fire me."
- Ware continued: "When I tried to speak up for myself, she told me to shut my mouth. She said I don't deserve to have that job."
- Ware originally spoke up about her costar in a reply to Michele's Black Lives Matter tweet, which sparked a flurry of other celebrities telling stories about her problematic behaviour.
Samantha Ware said that Lea Michele threatened to have her fired from "Glee" after she goofed around on-set.
After Ware called Michele out in a reply to her Black Lives Matter tweet, a host of other actors piled on with stories of their own problematic interactions with the Rachel Berry actor.
Ware expanded on her time working with Michele in an interview with Variety published on Thursday, in which she detailed an incident in an auditorium full of cast and crew where Michele threatened to have her fired.
"When you're shooting a scene, sometimes the camera is on you and sometimes it's not, but you still have to be in the scene," Ware said. "The camera wasn't on us, so it's not like we had to give a full-throttle performance, but apparently, I was goofing around when the camera wasn't on me, and she took that as me being disrespectful to her.
"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 refused to do what Michele wanted when the latter demanded: "You need to come here right now."
"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 said. "It's scary. For the full week, I was thinking I'm probably going to get an email and I might not be able to do the last three episodes, or I might not be able to sing another song."
By this point in the series — the sixth season — Murphy didn't actually have an active role in the show's production, but Ware said she believes Michele was using Murphy's name as a scare tactic.
"When I tried to speak up for myself, she told me to shut my mouth. She said I don't deserve to have that job," Ware said. "She talked about how she has reign. And here's the thing: I completely understood that, and I was ready to be like, 'This is your show. I'm not here to be disrespectful.' But at that point, we were already past the respect and she was just abusing her power."
In her original response to Michele's Black Lives Matter tweet, Ware wrote: "LMAO REMEMBER WHEN YOU MADE MY FIRST TELEVISON GIG A LIVING HELL?!?! CAUSE ILL NEVER FORGET. I BELIEVE YOU TOLD EVERYONE THAT IF TOU HAD THE OPPORTUNITY YOU WOULD 'S--- IN MY WIG!' AMONGST OTHER TRAUMATIC MICROAGRESSIONS THAT MADE ME QUESTION A CAREER IN HOLLYWOOD..."
This sparked a flurry of celebrities speaking out against Michele, posting their own stories about their interactions with the "Glee" actress. "30 Rock" actor Keith Powell called Michele "a terrible human," while "Glee" actress Heather Morris said she was "unpleasant to work with." Jeanté Godlock and Dabier, amongst others, also spoke out against Michele.
Michele posted an apology on Instagram after HelloFresh severed ties with her, writing: " I apologize for my behavior and for any pain which I have caused. We all can grow and change and I have definitely used these past several months to reflect my own shortcomings."
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