Actress Lea Michele sat behind Ziwe Fumudoh at the US Open on Sunday after she conducted an interview in which she spoke about Lea’s racism scandal.
The Glee actress, 37, was joined by her husband Zandy Reich, 40, at Flushing Meadows where they watched the men’s final of the US Open tennis tournament, while Ziwe, 31, was awkwardly placed in the stands in front of the couple.
Her appearance at the tournament comes just nine months after Ziwe, who was seated with friend Emily Ratajkowski, 32, interviewed Lea’s Glee co-star Amber Riley about allegations of racism on the show’s set.
In 2020, Glee star Samantha Ware accused Lea of having “racist tendencies” – something Ziwe asked Amber about in an awkward interview in December, leading to an awkward moment during Novak Djokovic’s face-off against Daniil Medvedev.
To add fuel to the fire, Watch What Happens Live producer Frank Costa tweeted a picture of the seating and wrote, “Lea Michele sits behind Ziwe and Emily Ratajkowski at the US Open.” I need a full breakdown of all the interactions.
Outing: Actress Lea Michele sat behind Ziwe Fumudoh at the US Open on Sunday after she conducted an interview in which she alluded to Lea’s racism scandal
Lea’s appearance: The Glee actress, 37, was joined by her husband Zandy Reich, 40, at Flushing Meadows where they watched the men’s final of the US Open tennis tournament, while Ziwe, 31, was awkwardly placed in front of the couple, standing next to Emily Ratajkowski
Behind: Emily and Ziwe didn’t seem to communicate with the smiling Lea
Shock: In 2020, Glee star Samantha Ware accused Lea of having “racist tendencies” – something Ziwe asked Amber about in an awkward interview in December, leading to an awkward moment during the Novak Djokovic vs. Daniil Medvedev duel
Frank: To add fuel to the fire, Watch What Happens Live producer Frank Costa tweeted a picture of the seating and wrote, “Lea Michele sits behind Ziwe and Emily Ratajkowski at the US Open.” I need a full breakdown of all the interactions .
In pictures taken of the foursome at the match in which Djokovic was victorious, the duo were never seen speaking and there is no confirmation of an exchange.
The scandal erupted in 2020 when Samantha accused the leading lady of abusing her on set – echoing claims made by other stars.
The bullying allegations came to light after Lea took to social media to pay tribute to George Floyd, who was killed by police, sparking global protests and giving rise to the Black Lives Matter movement.
Lea wrote on Twitter at the time: “George Floyd didn’t deserve this.” “This wasn’t an isolated incident and it has to come to an end.”
Samantha, who starred as Jane Hayward in the show’s sixth season in 2015, quickly hit back: “Remember when you made my first TV appearance a living hell?!?!…”
‘Cause I’ll never forget it… I think you told everyone if you had the chance you’d fuck my wig!’ among other traumatic microaggressions that caused me to question a career in Hollywood.”
After Lea vowed to “get better” in a statement but insisted she didn’t remember any of the moments Samantha remembered, the latter gave an interview in response.
When talking about the “traumatic microaggressions,” she said, “Am I calling Lea a racist?” No. Does Lea have racist tendencies? “I think Lea is suffering from a symptom of living in this world in an industry that caters to white people.”
EmRata’s look: Pictures taken of the foursome in the match in which Djokovic was victorious never showed the duo talking and there is no confirmation of an exchange
Ziwe’s look: They watched intently as the game began
“I’ll be better in the future”: In 2020, Lea (left) publicly apologized to Samantha Ware (right), claiming she “made her life a living hell” during her time on Glee.
Explanation: She took to social media to pay tribute to George Floyd and support the Black Lives Matter movement, prompting the backlash
Remember me? The news sparked a scathing reaction from Samantha
Ziwe then spoke to Amber, who played Mercedes Jones on the Fox comedy, about whether Lea was racist.
Ziwe said: “When we were talking about getting into the mud, you said one of your famous colleagues is not racist. Did you think it was her?’
It took Amber a moment to figure out what to answer before politely prompting Ziwe to move on to the next question, adding, “I don’t know how to answer that.”
Amber then defiantly explained that she wasn’t sure what colleague Ziwe meant because she had so many when she played the video where Riley said she didn’t think Lea Michele was racist.
Ziwe then asked, “Would you say that your famous colleague does not know the breed and is actually rude to all of her colleagues?”
Amber diplomatically responded, “I think she’d probably say she doesn’t see race.” But as we’ve discussed before, everyone does.”
Between Ziwe and Justin: Later, Ziwe and Emily swap places and sit next to Justin Theroux