Celebs Who Can't Stand Lea Michele

Lea Michele has been an entertainment industry darling (with a net worth to show for it) since her breakout performance in the 2006 Tony-winning rock musical Spring Awakening, leading to her beloved role as Rachel Berry on Fox's musical teen show Glee. Michele's career has included film roles, musical projects, and additional starring turns on TV, but through it all, her Glee character has been her most enduring success. Perhaps that's why it's been so shocking that Michele's career has been followed by rumors that she's been an unkind coworker on her TV sets, with the goss mainly being thrown around from her former Glee co-stars.

Hollywood A-listers have directed shade towards Michele for years, but things came to a head in the spring of 2020, when Michele was hit with racism accusations from actors who appeared in a variety of roles on Glee, from the series' stars to ensemble members, as well as criticism from her former Broadway co-stars. All of the complaints struck a similar chord, claiming that Michele was inconsiderate and unkind to her coworkers. Michele, who confirmed she was pregnant with her first child in May 2020, apologized for her behavior in an Instagram post, but accusations continued to follow the Scream Queens star even after her mea culpa. Read on for all the famous names who have vocalized their issues with Michele on social media and beyond. 

Samantha Ware, who appeared as the character of Jane Hayward on season six of Glee, set off a social media firestorm when she replied to Lea Michele's May 2020 tweet mourning the death of George Floyd by sharing her own racially-tinged experience with Michele. "George Floyd did not deserve this. This was not an isolated incident and it must end," Michele tweeted, to which Ware responded, "Remember when you made my first television gig a living hell?" Ware went on to accuse Michele of "microaggressions" like threatening to "sh*t in [her] wig," claiming Michele's actions "made [her] question a career in Hollywood." 

Days later, Michele apologized in an Instagram post, atoning, "I apologize for my behavior and for any pain which I have caused," adding that she'd been "[focusing] specifically on how [her] own behavior towards fellow cast members was perceived by them." Ware seemingly took issue with Michele's word choice, posting on Twitter, "Perceived? Purcieved? Purse? Open your purse?" with a link to a social justice GoFundMe. 

Heather Morris, who played Brittany on Glee, chimed in after several of her co-stars accused Lea Michele of creating a toxic on-set environment. Shortly after Michele shared an Instagram apology for complaints she'd been receiving from her Glee counterparts, Morris shot back with her own statement, writing that while she didn't think Michele should be treated with hate, she was still "unpleasant to work with."Morris continued, "For Lea to treat others with the disrespect that she did for as long as she did, I believe she SHOULD be called out," before taking responsibility for allowing Michele's behavior to continue. "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." Needless to say, Morris and Michele most likely aren't pals.

Morris hadn't previously spoken out against Michele, but in earlier interviews, she seemingly took care to praise nearly every other main Glee character other than Michele's Rachel Berry, telling Vanity Fair in 2010 that Kurt, Mercedes, and Artie were her favorites, and telling Advocate in 2010 that she and Naya Rivera were best friends off-screen. 

Samantha Ware's June 2020 tweet calling out Lea Michele also inspired actress Jeanté Godlock, who appeared in Glee's ensemble cast, to accuse Michele of speaking in a derogatory manner about the show's background actors. "Did somebody say cockroaches?" Godlock tweeted, responding to Ware. "Because that's what she used to refer to the background as on the set of Glee. But we grow up and we don't stay background forever sooooo..." 

Godlock also claimed to remember an incident on the Glee set in which Michele complained about a background performer standing too close to her, and liked a series of tweets from other Twitter commenters agreeing with her and claiming they also heard Michele's offensive comments.

Following her background work on Glee, Godlock broke through with the 2018 TV movie Simone Biles: Courage to Soar, in which she played the Olympian gymnast main character, and also starred in Netflix' Daybreak series in 2019. 

Yvette Nicole Brown, who appeared on the short-lived 2017 ABC comedy The Mayor with Lea Michele, aired her own opinions about the actress on Twitter, responding to Samantha Ware's all-caps missive about Michele by tweeting, "I felt every one of those capital letters." She continued, "Every person on a set matters. Every person on a set deserves respect. And it is the responsibility of every series regular to make every person who visits their home feel welcome."

Brown also took care to point out that her on-set experiences with Community, the cult favorite NBC comedy, weren't as toxic, alluding to Ware's claims that Michele told her she would defecate in her wig. "What? Someone threatening to take a dump in my wig? Naw, that never happened on Community," Brown tweeted. That would never happen on Community. We were and are a family who love and support each other to this day. Our crew were amazing too."

Actor Dabier Snell only appeared briefly on Glee, joining the cast for one episode in 2014, but that was enough to leave him with a bad impression of Lea Michele. Snell echoed his co-stars' harsh words about Michele following Samantha Ware's Twitter dressing-down of Michele, with Snell recalling a nasty on-set interaction he had with the actress. "Girl you wouldn't let me sit at the table with the other cast members cause 'I didn't belong there,'" he wrote in an all-caps tweet, quote-tweeting Michele's own post mourning George Floyd. "F**k you Lea."

That wasn't all, however. "I try to bring good vibes and create content for [people] to laugh and enjoy," Snell added, before confirming that he was a guest star on the show, and co-star Darren Criss invited him to "sit with everyone" and feel welcome. "Seeing her message brought back bad memories of being less than on set of Glee. Ain't goin stand for her being fake like she care."