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Glee’s Chris Colfer says he won’t be seeing Lea Michele in Funny Girl: ‘I can be triggered at home’

Colfer’s remark comes a couple of years after Michele was accused of creating a toxic work environment on set of Fox’s popular musical series

Inga Parkel
Wednesday 12 October 2022 17:13 BST
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Glee star Chris Colfer throws shade at Lea Michele over Funny Girl

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Chris Colfer has seemingly enjoyed a dig at former Glee co-star Lea Michele, saying that he won’t be seeing her Broadway performance of Funny Girl.

The two starred as on-again-off-again best friends on the hit musical series, which began in 2009. However, five years after its six-season run, Michele was accused of “bullying” behaviour by several Glee alumni.

While Colfer has remained relatively quiet about the allegations, he appeared to allude to the drama during a recent episode of The Michelle Collins Show.

Host Michelle Collins asked him to guess what she was doing that evening, suggesting he should join her. The 32-year-old responded: “Oh no, are you seeing Funny Girl?

Collins laughingly answered “yes”, before Colfer said: “Oh... My day suddenly just got so full.”

He added: “I saw Six last night, and that was amazing.”

“So, you’re not seeing it [Funny Girl] is my guess, while you’re in town?” Collins asked, with Colfer replying: “No, I can be triggered at home.”

Chris Colfer and Lea Michele
Chris Colfer and Lea Michele (Getty Images)

It was announced in July that Michele would be replacing leading lady Beanie Feldstein in the Broadway musical.

Responding to the casting change, Samantha Ware, whose initial accusations against Michele prompted others to come forward with more allegations, claimed that “Broadway upholds whiteness”.

Jane Lynch additionally exited her Funny Girl role as Mrs Brice in August, however, clarifying that it had nothing to do with her former Glee co-star’s casting.

Michele faced criticism in 2020 after sharing a tweet dedicated to George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter movement. In response to the actor’s post, Ware called Michele out for making her “first television gig a living hell”.

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According to the actor, Michele apparently told everyone she would “s*** in Ware’s wig” if she could, “among other traumatic microaggressions”.

Ware’s tweet led some of Michele’s other former co-workers to speak out. One claimed that Michele had previously “threatened to have people fired” and “was terrifying” at the age of 12.

Michele later apologised for her past behaviour in a statement on Instagram, noting how she wanted to “keep working to better [herself] and take responsibility for [her] actions”.

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