Former ‘Glee’ star Sammie Ware is unhappy that Lea Michele is being cast as the new lead in Broadway’s ‘Funny Girl’.
“Yes, I’m online today. Yes, I see you all. Yes, I care,” the actress, 30, tweeted on Monday† “Yes, I have been affected. Yes, I am human. Yes, I am black. Yes, I have been abused. Yes, my dreams were tarnished.”
Ware – who previously called Michele for assault on the Ryan Murphy series – concluded: “Yes, Broadway maintains whiteness. Yes, Hollywood does the same. Yes, silence is complicity. Yes, I’m loud. Yes, I’d do it again in a heartbeat .”
A representative for Michele, 35, did not immediately respond to Vidak For Congress’s request for comment.
She was chosen to take over the role of Fanny Brice after Beanie Feldstein announced her early exit from the production on Sunday.
“It has been a lifelong dream of mine to play Fanny Brice on Broadway and that has been a great joy and honor for the past few months,” Feldstein, 29, wrote on social media of her Broadway run, which began in April.
“When the production decided to steer the show in a different direction, I made the extremely difficult decision to stop earlier than expected.”
Feldstein had previously planned to leave “Funny Girl” in September. Her last show is now July 31. Actor Julie Benko will play Fanny in August before Michele takes on the role on September 6.
“I am so incredibly honored to join this amazing cast and production and return to the stage to play Fanny Brice on Broadway,” the “Spring Awakening” alumnus tweeted Monday. Until Sept 6. @funnygirlbwy #FUNNYGIRL.”
Michele’s casting comes more than two years after she was exposed for allegedly mistreating actors on the set of “Glee”, namely Ware.
Ware claimed in June 2020 that Michele made her tenure on the Fox show a “living hell” after the latter expressed support for the Black Lives Matter movement.
“She waited for the scene to be over and she stopped in the middle of the stage and did a ‘come here’ gesture, like a mother does with their child,” she told Variety, also claiming that Michele threatened her job when she refused. to come by.
Ware memorably claimed Michele said she would “put in my wig,” among other “traumatic micro-aggressions.”
Michele later apologized to Ware and more co-stars who claimed they had been victims of her alleged assault.
“What is important is that I have clearly acted in a way that has hurt other people,” Michele wrote via an Instagram statement, stressing that her Black Lives Matter post was intended to “show support for our friends, neighbors and communities of color during this really difficult time.”