Actress Lea Michele sat behind Ziwe Fumudoh during the US Open on Sunday, following his interview in which she discussed 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.
Their appearance at the tournament comes just nine months after Ziwe, who was with girlfriend 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 Amber spoke about in an awkward interview in December, leading to an awkward moment with the Novak Djokovic And Daniil Medvedev confronted.
To add fuel to the fire, Watch What Happens Live producer Frank Costa tweeted an image of the seats and wrote, “Lea Michele sits behind Ziwe and Emily Ratajkowski at the US Open. I need a complete overview of all interactions.’
Outing: Actress Lea Michele sat behind Ziwe Fumudoh at Sunday’s US Open in the wake of the latter’s interview in which she alluded to Lea’s racism scandal
Lea’s look: 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 in the state alongside Emily Ratajkowski
Behind: Emily and Ziwe did not appear to communicate with the smiling Lea
Shock: In 2020, Glee star Samantha Ware accused Lea of having ‘racist tendencies’ – something Ziwe criticized Amber for in an awkward interview in December, leading to an awkward moment in the confrontation between Novak Djokovic and Daniil Medvedev
Frank: To add more fuel to the fire, Watch What Happens Live producer Frank Costa tweeted an image of the seating and wrote, “Lea Michele sits behind Ziwe and Emily Ratajkowski at the US Open. I need a complete overview of all interactions’
Photos taken of the foursome during the match, where Djokovic was victorious, did not show the duo at any point and there is no confirmation of an exchange.
The scandal broke in 2020, when Samantha made her accusations against the leading lady, claiming she abused 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 the origins of the Black Lives Matter movement.
Lea wrote on Twitter at the time: ‘George Floyd didn’t deserve this. This was not an isolated incident and it must end.”
Samantha, who appeared as Jane Hayward in the show’s sixth season in 2015, quickly hit back: “Remember when you made my first television appearance a living hell?!?!…
Because I’ll never forget it… I think you told everyone that if you had the chance, you’d “sit in my wig!” among other traumatic microaggressions that made me doubt a career in Hollywood.”
After Lea vowed to ‘get better’ in a statement – but insisted she couldn’t remember a single moment Samantha remembered – the latter gave an interview in response.
Speaking 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 tailored to white people.”
EmRata’s look: Photos taken of the foursome during the match, where Djokovic was victorious, did not show the duo speaking at any point and there is no confirmation of an exchange
Ziwe’s look: They watched intently as the game started
‘I will be better in the future’: In 2020, Lea (left) issued a public apology to Samantha Ware (right) amid claims she made her life ‘hell’ during her stint on Glee
Statement: She took to social media to pay tribute to George Floyd and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement, which led to the backlash
Remember me? The message received a sharp response from Samantha
Following this, Ziwe spoke to Amber, who played Mercedes Jones on the Fox comedy-drama, about whether Lea was racist.
Ziwe said: “Speaking of mud, you said one of your famous colleagues was not a racist. Did you mean she was?’
Amber took a moment to think about how to respond before politely asking Ziwe to move on to the next question, adding, “I don’t know how to answer that.”
Amber then defiantly stated that she wasn’t sure what colleague Ziwe was talking about because she had so many, when she played the video of Riley saying she didn’t think Lea Michele was racist.
Ziwe then asked, “Would you say that your famous colleague doesn’t see race and is in fact rude to all her colleagues?”
Amber replied diplomatically, “I think she would probably say she doesn’t see race. But as we discussed earlier, everyone does that.”
Between Ziwe and Justin: Later Ziwe and Emily moved from their chairs and sat with Justin Theroux