Samantha Ware Said Lea Michele Threatened To Get Her Fired In A Detailed Interview About Her Experience On "Glee"

"She told me to shut my mouth. She said I don't deserve to have that job."

Samantha Ware has alleged that Lea Michele threatened to get her fired and humiliated her in front of fellow cast and crew members during their time on Glee.

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Earlier this month, Samantha accused Lea of "traumatic microagressions" while working together on Glee, something which made Samantha question her entire career.

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"Remember when you made my first television gig a living hell?!?!" Samantha wrote in response to a tweet by Lea about the death of George Floyd. "I'll never forget. I believe you told everyone that if you had the opportunity you would 'shit in my wig' amongst other traumatic microagressions that made me question a career in Hollywood..."

After Samantha's initial comment, more actors from Glee and beyond made their own allegations about working with Lea.

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Dabier Snell — who made a guest appearance in Glee's fourth season — accused Lea of not letting him sit at a table with the other cast members because he "didn't belong there".

Heather Morris, who played Brittany on the show, said that while she didn't believe Lea was racist, she found her "unpleasant to work with".

Amber Riley, who played Mercedes Jones, agreed, saying: "I’m not going to say that she’s racist, but at the same time, in my inbox there are a lot of black actors and actresses telling me their stories, and were letting me know they have dealt with the same things being on set."

Meanwhile, Elizabeth Aldridge — a childhood understudy for Lea — accused her of making her cry at the time, as well as "demean[ing] the crew" and allegedly "threaten[ing] to have people fired".

However, some former costars did come out in defence of Lea, including Glee actors Iqbal Theba and Dean Geyer.

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Iqbal — aka Principal Figgins — said that he was "never mistreated" by Lea, adding: "If some of the cast were treated badly then she has apologized for it which is wonderful."

Dean, who played Lea's on-screen boyfriend in 2014, also defended her, saying that based off his experience on set, there "definitely shouldn't be a reason for a backlash".

Lea addressed the claims made by her former co-stars in a lengthy statement posted to instagram where she apologised for being "perceived as insensitive or inappropriate at times".

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"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 really not the point," she said. "What matters is that I clearly acted in ways which hurt other people."

Lea added: "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."

Now, Samantha has spoken about her experiences in more detail, claiming to have found Lea challenging to work with from "day one".

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"There was nothing gradual about it. As soon as she decided that she didn't like me, it was very evident," Samantha said in an interview with Variety. "It was after I did my first performance, that's when it started – the silent treatment, the stare-downs, the looks, the comments under her breath, the weird passive aggressiveness. It all built up."

According to Samantha, Lea threatened to have her fired after they shot one particular scene together, leaving her "terrified" that she'd be dropped from the show.

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"I was goofing around when the camera wasn't on me, and she took that as me being disrespectful to her," Samantha said. "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."

After "politely refusing" because she'd been "already publicly humiliated", Samantha added: "That's when she decided to threaten my job, and said she would call Ryan Murphy in to come and fire me."

Things apparently only got worse as Samantha went on to claim that when she tried to speak up for herself, Lea shut her down and allegedly told her that she didn't deserve the job in the first place.

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"She told me to shut my mouth. She said I don't deserve to have that job," Samantha 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."

As for her original tweet, Samantha alleged that the "shit in your wig" comment was heard by others on the set and was met with a mixed reaction.

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"Some chuckled and some gasped," she said. "It was mortifying. The whole point was for her to embarrass me. People heard her, but no one was going to stand up to her."

Samantha went on to claim that people acknowledged the situation but many felt powerless to stop it.

According to Variety, Lea sent an email to Samantha which included a letter of apology after her tweet about the incident earlier this month. However, in a later comment, Samantha said that the apology only "affirmed that she hasn't learned anything".

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It's unclear if Samantha was referencing the apology she received from Lea, or the public apology that Lea posted following the allegations.

"Does Lea even know what a microaggression is? I don't know," Samantha went on. "Am I calling Lea a racist? No. Does Lea have racist tendencies? I think Lea suffers from a symptom of living in this world in an industry that is tailored to white people."

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BuzzFeed News has contacted a spokesperson for Samantha Ware for comment. A spokesperson for Lea Michele declined to comment. You can read Samantha's full interview with Variety here.