The misfits that filled our childhood and the halls of William McKinley High School with acoustics, acapella, and ambition, is set to make a comeback on our screens.
However, other than the successful six-year run of the musical show, Glee fans know that beyond the teenage drama, more controversies transpired behind the scenes.
Produced by the same company that brought us The Invisible Pilot and Facebook’s 9 Months with Courteney Cox, Ample Entertainment is said to air never-heard-before testimonies of close family and friends of the award-winning show’s cast and crew, in a three-part docuseries.
The toxic work environment brought about by Lea Michele
In the midst of the news surrounding police brutality and racism against George Floyd and the social movement for Black Lives Matter, Michele like everybody else took their contempt for the system online.
But instead of a positive response for speaking up about the problem, it seems that the actress herself perpetuates a work environment that mistreats her costars that are people of color.
In a now-deleted tweet, Glee co-star Samantha Ware, who played the character of Jane Hayward, commented on Michele’s post back in 2020 after advocating online about the cause.
“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”, Ware tweeted.
After the allegation was made, many of Michele’s former colleagues from varying projects like ABC’s ‘The Mayor’, Fox’s ‘Scream Queens’, and the Broadway show ‘Spring Awakening’, backed up Ware’s statement saying that the 36-year-old actress has been establishing a toxic work environment with her behavior problems.
Michele who played the character of Rachel Berry in Glee, posted a public apology right after on her Instagram account saying that while she does not remember ever making such a statement, she had never judged others by their background nor the color of their skin.
View this post on Instagram
In disbelief of the actress’ “apology”, Gerard Canonico, who worked as an understudy for the Broadway show “Spring Awakening”, commented on Michele’s post that as of writing has already disabled the comment section.
“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.” Canonico posted
Trigger Warning: Drugs, Pornography, and Suicide
Deaths
Because of the tragic death and incidents that some of the Glee cast faced, the media implied to calling it the “Glee curse”.
Cory Monteith (played Finn Hudson)
Fans of the show worldwide had their hearts broken after Cory Monteith, who was only 31 years old at the time, passed away back in July 13, 2013.
While he was still filming for the show, the Canadian actor was found dead in his room on the 21st floor of the Fairmont Pacific Rim Hotel on Vancouver’s waterfront at about noon, according to police reports.
The autopsy revealed that Monteith had a “lethal combination” of both heroin and alcohol in his system.
Even before the incident, the actor already admitted to his substance addiction and had his first treatment when he was still 19, saying that he had a serious problem and took just “anything and everything”.
Mark Salling (played Noah “Puck” Puckerman)
Weeks after pleading guilty to possession of child pornography back in December 2017, Mark Salling died of suicide by hanging in a riverbed area in the Tujunga neighborhood, Los Angeles, on January 2018.
Salling, 35, was barred after authorities found 50,000 images of child porn on his computer and a thumb drive. He was also supposed to be sentenced to a four to seven years imprisonment on March 7, 2018.
Naya Rivera (played Samantha Lopez)
The 33-year-old actress who played a cheerleader in the hit show died of accidental drowning on July 8, 2020, according to an autopsy report done by officials in California.
Rivera was first reported missing after she had rented a pontoon boat with her four-year-old son at Lake Piru in the northwest of Los Angeles.
The possibility of strong lake currents was considered to be the root cause of the incident, given that the boat used by Rivera was found unanchored, while her son was wearing a life jacket.
Josey, the actress’ son, was found by a leasing agent sleeping and alone on the drifting boat, while five days later found Rivera’s body floating in the area of the lake that was about 30 feet deep.
As per the Glee docuseries, the title and release date have yet to be announced.
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