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Glee controversies to be explored in three-part docuseries

Untitled documentary will include first-hand accounts from key cast and crew members who worked on Fox’s hit singing show

Inga Parkel
Wednesday 12 October 2022 21:21 BST
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Exclusive Glee performance

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Discovery+ and ID have ordered a three-part docuseries that will explore the real story behind the string of controversies associated with Glee.

Produced by Ample Entertainment, the documentary will include first-hand accounts from key cast and crew members who worked on Fox’s six-season singing drama, which ran from 2009 to 2015.

The untitled project will address the controversies including the child pornography case of Mark Salling, who portrayed Puck.

Salling was arrested and found guilty in 2017 of possessing over 50,000 images of child sex abuse. He later died by suicide at age 35 in 2018 while awaiting sentencing.

Five years after the series ended, Lea Michele, who played Rachel Berry, was accused by former co-star Samantha Marie Ware of making her life a “living hell” due to “traumatic microaggressions” on the set of the show.

Ware’s allegations then ignited several otherGlee alumni to speak out against Michele’s alleged “bullying”.

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

Glee cast
Glee cast (Fox)

Soon after in July 2020, Naya Rivera (Santa Lopez) tragically died in an accidental drowning. She is survived by her four-year-old son Josey.

Meanwhile, during Glee’s fifth season in 2013, Cory Monteith, who played Finn Hudson, died at age 35 from a heroin and alcohol overdose.

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The series from director Ryan Murphy, which also starred Matthew Morrison, Jane Lynch, Jayma Mays, Dianna Agron, Chris Colfer, Jessalyn Gilsig, Kevin McHale, Amber Riley, Jenna Ushkowitz, Heather Morris, Darren Criss and Melissa Benoist, followed the highs and lows of an Ohio high school glee club.

The docuseries coming from Discovery+ and true-crime brand ID is the streamers’ latest instalment following its recent The House of Hammer, which took a deep dive into the dark history of actor Armie Hammer and the Hammer patriarchy.

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