Kevin McHale would like to clarify one thing: the cast of Glee did not take part in the upcoming ID and Discovery+ documentary The Price of Glee, at least not that he knows about. On Friday, the actor who played Artie on the Fox series responded a tweet by writer and comedian Ashley Ray, who shared a appointment item which claims the series will “have access to key cast and crew members”. McHale wrote, “Show me that ‘cast’ you’re talking about. This is 🗑️.”
In an episode tweet, the actor added, “That was the beautiful version, ftr. Don’t make me talk about it again.” POPSUGAR has reached out to representatives from Discovery and McHale for comment on the issue of the cast’s reported involvement, but has not received an immediate response.
McHale’s “And That’s What You REALLY Missed” podcast co-host and “Glee” co-star Jenna Ushkowitz seemed to support him Tweet a crawling emoji. That’s what the podcast hosts have said before in touch weekly that they were in no way involved in the documentaries and prefer not to draw additional attention to it. “We’re not really connected to it,” Ushkowitz said.
Meanwhile, McHale wanted fans to know that he would only speak out about the series when claims were made that he believes are patently false. “You don’t necessarily want to give something more attention than it might deserve or need,” he explained. “But we will see. We and all our friends have nothing to do with it, so we’ll see what happens.”
The Price of Glee will explore the controversy and tragedy that afflicted the show’s cast both during its airing and in the years after it ended. Such tragedies include the death of Cory Monteith, who died of an accidental heroin overdose in 2013, the death of Naya Rivera in 2020, and the death of Mark Salling, who was arrested in 2015 for possessing child pornography images and died from an apparent suicide in 2018.
According to Deadline, the docuseries will air in three parts beginning January 16 and will feature interviews with family and friends of the cast and crew members. The trailer for The Price of Glee features a character saying, “I don’t want to say the c-word — the ‘curse’ word — but that’s where your mind goes.”
As for the cast, McHale and Ushkowitz aren’t the only ones to say the main actors weren’t involved in the docuseries. In a November appearance on “Elvis Duran and the Morning Show”, Chord Overstreet said, “I think this is all bullsh*t. I think everyone who knows about this show and has experienced it, to the best of my knowledge, has nothing to do with it.”