‘Funny Girl’ star Lea Michele blames ‘perfectionism’ for accusations of racism and transphobia

It’s crunch time for Lea Michele, who is about to start her controversial Funny girl right after the long weekend on Broadway. While there’s certainly been a lot of drama surrounding former star Beanie Feldstein’s exit from the show, there’s a bigger issue Michele faces when she takes the Broadway stage: her liking.

A handful of people are clearly fond of Michele — the skyrocketing ticket prices for Funny girl there’s evidence as of September 6 – but the actress still faces a boatload of allegations against her. 2020 a handful of her joy Co-stars spoke out against Michele and reported racist and transphobic behavior on set.

There’s reportedly a much more complex story behind Lea Michele traumatizing her co-stars — that’s not all joy-related—but the main takedown comes from co-star Samantha Ware. After Michele tweeted about Black Lives Matter in June 2020, Ware responded with, “I think you told everyone that if you had the chance you would shit in my wig!” Another offense: transphobia towards the model Plastic Martyr, which Michele claimed once tried to throw her out of the women’s restroom.

Michele “apologized” (if you can call it that) for her earlier behavior in 2020, while denying any accusations of being racist or transphobic. In a new profile with the New York TimesHowever, Michele seems to acknowledge these claims – and apologize to them.

While the actress has said through the media that she “doesn’t feel the need to fix things,” she opened up about why she might have acted the way she did.

“I have an advantage for myself. i work really hard I leave no room for error,” she said. “That level of perfectionism, or that pressure to be perfectionism, left a lot of blind spots on me.”

Michele continued, “I now truly understand the importance and value of being a leader. It means doing a good job not only when the camera is rolling, but also when it’s not. And that wasn’t always the most important thing for me.”

Longtime collaborators Jonathan Groff and Ryan Murphy also shared the feeling that Michele has changed, especially since getting married and having their first child. Groff said that he and Murphy had dinner with Michele right after their wedding, and recalled Murphy saying, “This was the first time I’ve had dinner with Lea where the main topic of conversation wasn’t about she was.”

Fans (and critics) of Michele have dealt with her diva-like demeanor by turning her into a meme (the joke is that she can’t read). But the actress has enough of that too. While she still didn’t technically comment on her reading ability — we’ve got to keep speculating — she asked people to cool it with the nitwits.

“I went to joy every single day; I knew my lines every day,” she said. “And then there’s a rumor on the internet that I can’t read or write? It is sad. It’s really. I often think if I were a man, a lot of that wouldn’t be the case.”

Secure.

But really, if Michele wants to be seen in a favorable light, next week she’ll have to do more than just sing her heart out. There’s little to no chance that the “can’t read” meme, narcissistic persona, or accusations of racism or transphobia will shake them anytime soon. Michele can certainly act like a lovely Fanny Brice on stage, but she can’t keep sweeping her gruesome past under the curtain.