Lea Michele apologizes—but not for any particular thing, or to any specific person
We at The A.V. Club love a good apology and will happily report one as soon as we see one. Instead, we’re here to share that Lea Michele has broken her silence (exclusively with People) and responded to fellow Glee alum Samantha Marie Ware’s comments regarding past on-set behavior.
In case you (very understandably) missed it: After Michele tweeted a statement ostensibly in support of Black Lives Matter and the continued protests against police brutality, Ware responded with claims that Michele mistreated her on set, audibly wished to “shit in [Ware’s] wig,” and engaged in other microaggressions that made Ware’s first major job in television “a living hell.” Following Ware’s comments, HelloFresh dropped its partnership with Michele, citing its refusal to “condone racism [and] discrimination of any kind.”
After that major development, Michele finally decided to issue a lengthy statement—again, exclusively to People before reposting it on Instagram a little later—that sounds somewhat apologetic for nondescript behaviors that she may or may not have inflicted on unnamed co-stars:
“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, 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.