Lea Michele has come under fire in the past week over claims that she acted in a bullying manner on the set of Glee.
Michele initially posted to her social media on 29th May to show solidarity for the Black Lives Matter movement.
Upon seeing this, fellow Glee star Samantha Ware came forward with claims the actress had bullied her co-star on set.
In the follow-up tweet, Ware said Michele, who played 'Rachel' in the hit TV series, had made her question a career in Hollywood.
Now, Heather Morris, who played Britney on the show, has forward to talk about the treatment they received on the set of Glee, which had been filmed in Los Angeles for six seasons.
Releasing a statement on her personal Twitter account, Morris says that working with the Broadway star was difficult.
— heather (@HeatherMorrisTV) June 3, 2020
The blonde star says that the onus has been on her and her co-stars to come forward and speak about the mistreatment they received on behalf of the 'Rachel Berry' actress.
"Let me be very clear, Hate is a disease in America that we are trying to cure, so I would never wish for hate to be spread to anyone else."
"With that said, was she unpleasant to work with? Very much so; for Lea to treat others with the disrespect that she did for as long as she did, I believe she SHOULD be called out.
“And yet, it’s also on us because to allow it to go on for so long without speaking out is something else we’re learning along with the rest of society.
"But, at the current moment its implied that she is a racist and although I cannot comment on her beliefs, I think we’re assuming, and you know what happens when we all assume..."
Previously, Alex Newell, Amber Riley and Dabier Snell had come out to support the claims made by Ware.
https://t.co/80ohlWM4Yd pic.twitter.com/tcfQyhgiGP
— Alex Newell (@thealexnewell) June 2, 2020
— Amber Patrice Riley (@MsAmberPRiley) June 2, 2020
Lea Michele has responded to the claims saying that she has never judged anyone by the colour of their skin.
"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 injustices 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...
"But the responses I received to what I posted have made me also focus on how my own behavior towards fellow cast members was perceived by them," she continued.
"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."
Michele continued by saying that she has used the past few months to reflect on her behaviour and wishes to be a role model to her first child, which she is expecting soon.
"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".
Broadway star Emma Hunton, who starred alongside Lea Michele in her last Broadway show Spring Awakening, has commented to say that her apology wasn't enough.
Gerard Canonico, another member of the Broadway, said that his previous comment had been deleted.
“Seems to have been deleted. So I’ll try again. You were nothing but a nightmare to me and fellow understudy cast members.
“You made us feel like we didn’t belong there. I tried for years to be nice to you to no avail.
"Maybe actually apologize instead of placing the blame on how others ‘perceive’ you.
"You’ll probably just delete this though.”
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