PETALING JAYA, June 3 — Grocery kit company HelloFresh has axed Glee actress Lea Michele’s sponsorship deal after her co-star Samantha Ware said Michele had committed “traumatic microaggressions” against her.
HelloFresh tweeted in response to several posts expressing concerns over their ties with Michele following Ware’s accusations.
“HelloFresh does not condone racism nor discrimination of any kind. We are disheartened and disappointed to learn of the recent claims concerning Lea Michele.
“We take this very seriously, and have ended our partnership with Lea Michele, effective immediately,” the company wrote.
Michele was previously a brand influencer for HelloFresh and featured their grocery boxes on her Instagram feed, where she has over 6.3 million followers.
Ware, who is African American, had earlier tweeted that Michele had made her life a “living hell” when they worked together on the sixth season of Glee, which premiered in 2015.
She was responding to Michele’s Twitter post expressing support for the Black Lives Matter movement and the ongoing protests surrounding the death of George Floyd.
“Remember when you made my first television gig a living hell?! ‘Cause I’ll never forget.
“I believe you told everyone that if you had the opportunity, you would ‘s*** in my wig’ amongst other traumatic microaggressions that made me question a career in Hollywood,” Ware wrote.
For emphasis, Ware typed her tweet out in capital letters.
Other stars from the Glee cast chimed in with Ware’s post, with Amber Riley seemingly backing up Ware’s statement by replying with a GIF of herself sipping tea.
Alex Newell, who played Unique Adams on the show, appeared to agree with Ware as well, writing “we ain’t got a damn thing to lie about six years later.”
Michele has laid low on social media since Ware called her out and has yet to respond to the issue.
