This actress was called out by every single one of her BIPOC cast members and just landed the role of her dreams.

Broadway’s Latest Switch Up Proves That Black Lives Don’t Matter — Photo by Florian Wehde on Unsplash

Between 2009 and 2015, you had to be living under a deep, deep rock to escape the cultural craze of Glee.

It came in hot with its premiere episode, gaining around 10 million views as America tuned in to watch a bunch of horny teenagers sing show tunes. The cast of the series became stars practically overnight.

And amongst those cast members, one stood above the rest with her exceptionally fantastic voice and pure diva-like behavior.

And that person is Lea Michele.

The Rise of the Diva: Glee

Michele’s Rachel Berry quickly became a crowd favorite despite her all-around arrogance. She was the child of two gay men, was constantly bullied (via Slushie to the face usually), and knew she was too talented for the small town in which she was raised.

Since everyone loves to cheer for an underdog, everyone cheered for Rachel Berry

As the series progressed, however, the character slowly grew more insufferable.

She became acutely aware of her talent, got hot — mostly due to real-life Lea Michele’s glow-up — and sent an equally as talented singer to a crack house to avoid having her audition for, and potentially become the best singer of, the glee club.

And apparently, the fictional character of Rachel Berry very much reflected the ethical character of Lea Michele. Something that was becoming evident through her interviews and the distance that grew between her and her castmates, one of which she had even formerly lived with when the show began.

But just as the world was starting to realize the kind of person Lea Michele is, tragedy struck her. Cory Monteith, the much-loved actor who played the star quarterback on the show, died unexpectedly of a heroin overdose in 2013.

He was also Michele’s real-life boyfriend.

Gleeks around the world mourned the death of Monteith. And it was nearly impossible not to feel heartache for Michele who, despite her flaws, loved that man with everything she had.

And so the first pass was granted.

The Fall of the Diva: BLM

2020 was a time of introspection and learning for everyone. We were bored in the house, and the world was going up in flames around us as conversations on racial bias in America took hold in a way that it hasn’t in decades.

People of color, especially Black, were feeling more emboldened to speak out about their experiences, and there were no statutes of limitation on them. People were finally getting to raise their voices and speak their truths, consequences be damned. It was inspiring, heartbreaking, and eye-opening.

One of those people was a former Glee actress named Samantha Ware.

After Michele made a tweet supporting BLM, Ware responded with her own tweet, calling out the hypocrisy of the action:

“Remember when you made my first television gig a living hell?!?! 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…”

Michele responded two days after with a lengthy Instagram post that can be summed up as “I was young, and immature, and don’t remember ever being racist, but if I was, I’m sorry that I hurt anyone’s feelings.”

As all of this went on, other Glee stars lent more credit to Samantha Ware’s claims:

Dabier Snell, who appeared on one episode of the show, tweeted about the time that Michele wouldn’t let him sit at a table with the cast because he “didn’t belong there”.
Amber Riley (Mercedes), who replied to Ware’s tweets with reactionary GIF’s that implied she’d had a similar experience, spoke out to say that she doesn’t necessarily think that Lea Michele is racist. However, she did make clear that she hoped the actress had grown and that the Glee set was an uncomfortable work environment.
Alex Newell (Unique) responded by posting multiple GIFs on Ware’s tweet as well. Newell also responded to fans several times, and when some fans thought the cast was lying about the claims, Newell replied, “We ain’t got not a damn thing to lie about 6 years later!”
Melissa Benoist (Marley) liked all of Ware’s comments as well as the GIF replies from Riley and Newell
Heather Morris (Brittany) tweeted the following, “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 yes, it’s also on us because we all it to go on for so long without speaking out is something else we’re learning along with the rest of society.” Just recently though, she came out to say that while she wasn’t as blunt back then because of Michele’s pregnancy, she can confirm that rumors about her onset behavior were absolutely true.

Fans of Lea Michele defended her staunchly, while fans of the Glee show weren’t as quick to let her off the hook. Many began to consider her officially “cancelled” and the biggest fallout was an abrupt end to her sponsored partnership with HelloFresh.

However, you can’t keep a diva down.

The Rise of the Diva…Again: Funny Girl

Both Rachel Berry and Lea Michele have never been shy about their love of the Broadway hit Funny Girl. The main role of Fanny Brice, originated by Barbra Streisand, has always been a dream of Michele’s. To the point where Rachel Berry had a whole plot line about it.

So when the revival of the show was announced, everyone immediately began speculating that Michele would get the role.

Instead though, it went to iconic gem Beanie Feldstein.

Unfortunately, Beanie got terrible reviews for her voice, and the show as a whole only received one Tony nomination. A very rare occurrence for shows that are already loved and have a ton of star power.

This led to Beanie announcing that she’d be leaving the show at the beginning of September. Immediately after, the Funny Girl account tweeted that they had big casting news for the next day.

Lo and behold…to the shock of literally no one…the big news was Lea Michele.

Seemingly forgotten was the fact that she was an insufferable diva to work with.

Or that her BIPOC costars called out her explicit bias, disrespect, and disregard of them.

None of that mattered.

And Lea Michele, instead of being held accountable for her actions, was given the role of her dreams and the biggest role of her career.

Because money is far more important than morals, and while Broadway wants to tout itself as an inclusive space for all, the mask is continuing to slip no matter how hard they attempt to hold it in place.

Broadway’s Latest Switch Up Proves That Black Lives Don’t Matter