Glee alum Lea Michele issues apology for past behavior; but is it enough?

Earlier this week, Glee alum Samantha Marie Ware ignited a whole slew of comments about Lea Michele after sharing her experiences working alongside her. That led to others who have worked with the actress over the years, including Alex Newell and Yvette Nicole Brown (who starred with her on The Mayor), joining the conversation. All of this has fueled a perception that Michele can be hurtful, cruel, or difficult to work with, and she has released a statement via her Instagram that you can read below:

One of the most important lessons of the last few weeks is that we need to take the time to listen and learn about other people’s perspectives and any role we have played or anything we can do to help address the injustices that they face. When I tweeted the other day, it was meant to be a show of support for our friends and neighbors and communities of color during this really difficult time, but the responses I received to what I posted have made me also focus specifically on how my own behavior towards fellow cast members was perceived by them.

While I don’t remember ever making this specific statement and I have never judged others by their background or color of their skin, that’s not really the point. What matters is that I clearly acted in ways which hurt other people. Whether it was my privileged position and perspective that caused me to be perceived as insensitive or inappropriate at times or whether it was just my immaturity and me just being unnecessarily difficult, I apologize for my behavior and for any pain which I have caused. We all can grow and change and I have definitely used these past several months to reflect my own shortcomings.

I am a couple of months from becoming a mother and I know I need to keep working to better myself and take responsibility for my actions, so that I can be a real role model for my child and so I can pass along my lessons and mistakes, so that they can learn from me. I listened to these criticisms and I am learning.

Is this an adequate apology?

It’s difficult, given that while Michele does say the word “apologize,” she also uses the word “perceived” — suggesting that the onus falls more on the person who is hearing her comments as opposed to her for making them in the first place. She actually uses the word “perceived” more than once, which exacerbates the problem further. Could this be an occasion where less is probably more? Definitely. She could have crafted a better overall apology just be omitting at least half of the overall words she used here, and focus instead on apologizing for the past and then vowing to move forward and be better. Sometimes, that is better than trying to apologize while holding onto a certain defense, such as perception.

In the end, it’s really up to those Michele hurt to decide whether or not to acknowledge her apology or feel like it’s enough — this is just our take from the outside.

What do you think about this Lea Michele statement?

Do you think that it says or does anywhere near enough? Be sure to share in the comments, and then also stick around to view some other news related to all things TV. (Photo: Fox.)