If Lea Michele didn’t know what a micro-aggression was before, she sure does now!

That’s really what Samantha Ware wanted out of her now-viral response to the long-suspected prima-donna’s Black Lives Matter tweet, in which she accused Lea of making her life a “living hell” on the set of Glee by hurling “traumatic micro-aggressions” at her.

As you likely know, Ware’s accusations set off a mini-movement against Michele, with former co-stars from Glee all the way back to her child actor days on Broadway revealing their horror stories about working with the allegedly tyrannical actress. 

Related: Lea Has Been ‘Reaching Out’ After Former Co-Stars Accuse Her Of Bullying!

Now, Ware is speaking out more about her decision to expose Lea’s alleged behavior — and while she doesn’t think the 33-year-old is racist, the Nebraska native does think Lea desperately needed to be called out. She explained to Variety:

“When you tweet, ‘Black lives matter,’ that would mean you have an understanding of what that hashtag means, but it’s clear that it doesn’t. Does Lea even know what a microaggression is? I don’t know. All that her apology did was affirm that she hasn’t learned anything. 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.”

One of those symptoms was her alleged super-diva behavior toward the supporting cast of Glee. 

As fans know, Ware joined the show in Season 6 as one of the “new kids.” Recalling her first day on set, the 28-year-old said she was sidelined by Lea, the show’s lead, immediately. She explained:

“I knew from day one when I attempted to introduce myself. There was nothing gradual about it. As soon as she decided that she didn’t like me, it was very evident. 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.”

Ware told the outlet that Michele threatened her job on one occasion in front of a large group of extras, dancers, and the cast. Noting that she may have unintentionally offended Michele at the time, Ware explained: 

“When you’re shooting a scene, sometimes the camera is on you and sometimes it’s not, but you still have to be in the scene. The camera wasn’t on us, so it’s not like we had to give a full throttle performance, but apparently, I was goofing around when the camera wasn’t on me, and she took that as me being disrespectful to her.”

Ware said no one voiced any concern with her, including the director of the episode, so she was surprised when Lea called her out.

She continued:

“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.”

Ware claimed Michele demanded that she “come here right now,” to which Ware allegedly refused because she was already publicly humiliated. She shared:

“I said ‘no,’ and that’s when she decided to threaten my job, and said she would call [series creator] Ryan Murphy in to come and fire me… It’s scary. For the full week, I was thinking I’m probably going to get an email and I might not be able to do the last three episodes, or I might not be able to sing another song.”

Ware said she spoke with Michele after the incident, but was only reminded of the hierarchy on set. She explained:

“When I tried to speak up for myself, she told me to shut my mouth. She said I don’t deserve to have that job. 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.”

(According to all this, it seems Lea didn’t learn from ANY of Rachel Berry’s storylines.)

While Ware never officially reported the alleged behavior to the network or studio because she didn’t know that filing a complaint was an option, she said Lea’s oppressive attitude was no secret on the set. She explained:

“Lea’s actions were nothing new, so I guess since it was such a common thing, my case didn’t seem like that big of a deal. I remember the first day I actually spoke up and unfortunately no one did anything. They just shrugged it off, like ‘That’s her.’ No one was stopping these things, which is an issue because the environment was helping perpetuate this abuse.”

As for the alleged incident where Lea threatened to “s**t” in Ware’s wig, Ware said the Emmy nominee made the comment during an intimate cast screening during a lunch break on set.

She remembered:

“She had an issue because I had laughed [when watching a scene] and that’s when the ‘I’m going to s**t in your wig’ comment happened… Some [people] chuckled and some gasped. 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… Everyone minded their business or said, ‘I’m sorry, I wish I had the power to stop this, but this is just the way it is, and this is just how it’s been’ – which means I wasn’t the first person to have been in that situation.”

For Ware, the comment was racially charged because, as she explained, “Black women historically are known for their wigs.” According to Variety, Michele sent Ware a personal email with an apology letter after the “wig” accusation was made. 

Ware, for her part, said she doesn’t support “cancel culture” and believes everyone should be given a second chance. But she also knew she couldn’t stay silent after seeing Lea’s tweet in support of George Floyd. Looking ahead, Ware hopes her white colleagues will become true allies by educating themselves further — and, of course, not being total ego-maniacs.

Do U think Lea learned her lesson, Perezcious readers?

[Image via Joseph Marzullo/WENN]

The post Samantha Ware Unpacks Why She Put Lea Michele On Blast & Shares More <i>Glee</i> Horror Stories! appeared first on Perez Hilton.