Kevin McHale played the sweet, wheelchair-using Artie Abrams in Glee, but the star came out swinging this week in an expletive-laced tirade to defend his late co-stars who tragically died within seven years of one another.
The 38-year-old actor dropped the f-bomb twice in a blunt statement on X criticizing fans for their online conspiracy theories regarding the deaths of his three former co-stars Cory Monteith, Mark Salling and Naya Rivera.
‘Let me log off today because the way too many of you talk about real people who have passed as a “sacrifice” or a “curse” in regards to a tv show is f***ing diabolical and untethered from any sort of humanity or reality,’ McHale furiously wrote, adding: ‘get f***ed.’
While he didn’t mention his co-stars by name, his condemnation of social media users discussing their deaths as a ‘sacrifice’ and ‘curse’ clearly underlined his loyalty.
McHale, who previously slammed the Discovery+ documentary series The Price of Glee, was very close to Monteith, who died of an accidental overdose in 2013 at 31 years old. Monteith played the beloved Finn Hudson on the musical comedy-drama series that aired on Fox network from 2009 to 2015.
Five years later, Salling took his own life in January 2018 at 35 years old while awaiting federal sentencing after pleading guilty to possession of child pornography. He played Noah ‘Puck’ Puckerman, a tough high school football player and Finn’s best friend who eventually joined the glee club.
Kevin McHale played the sweet, wheelchair-using Artie Abrams in Glee, but the star came out swinging this week in an expletive-laced tirade to defend his late co-stars who tragically died within seven years of one another
Glee was a musical comedy-drama series on Fox network about an underdog high school choir show, its misfit members and their passionate teacher (back row L-R: Dijon Talton, Cory Monteith, Harry Shum Jr, Mark Salling and Heather Morris; front row L-R: Amber Riley, Matthew Morrison (kneeling), Jenna Ushkowitz, Kevin McHale, Naya Rivera, Lea Michele, Chris Coifer and Dianna Agron)
McHale had an exceptionally strong bond with Rivera during and after Glee aired. She played Santana Lopez, a cheerleading sidekick who was a bit of an antagonist and evolved into a gifted vocalist.
McHale very deeply and publicly mourned Rivera after she died in July 2020 at the age of 33, from accidental drowning after using all her energy to save her four-year-old son, Josey, instead at Lake Piru in California.
Not long after her body was recovered, McHale posted a devastated tribute on Instagram, writing: ‘I legitimately cannot imagine this world without you.’
McHale, however, previously admitted he and his co-stars have joked about the show being cursed, but insisted they were just using humor to deal with a difficult situation.
‘We make jokes about a curse, which makes a lot of people uncomfortable,’ he said on the Elvis Duran Show in 2024.
‘The amount of times we’ve said some things that everyone gets really quiet, we’re like, “No no, you [don’t] understand, if we don’t laugh about this we will all just be sad.”‘
A 2023 documentary, The Price of Glee, also expanded on the idea of the show being cursed by detailing the untimely deaths of five crew members of the show, per E! News.
Second team lead and background wrangler Jim Fuller and a ‘lead prop guy’ named Paul both died after suffering heart attacks, and Mark Watson, a ‘main stand-in’ for series star Matthew Morrison, lost his life in a ‘car fire.’
McHale, 38, used the f-bomb TWICE in defense of his deceased co-stars
Cory Monteith, left, died of an accidental overdose in 2013 at 31 years old and Mark Salling, right, took his own life in January 2018 at 35 years old while awaiting federal sentencing after pleading guilty to possession of child pornography
McHale very deeply and publicly mourned Naya Rivera after she died in July 2020 at the age of 33, from accidental drowning at Lake Piru in California; Rivera was pictured in 2013
McHale – pictured in 2024 – has moved on from Glee to on-stage productions and is currently wrapping up the Off-Broadway revival of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
In addition, production assistant Nancy Motes took her own life, and rigging gaffer J.A. Byerly revealed his brother and colleague also died by suicide after the show ended.
‘I think it unfortunately is just a lot of horrible coincidences and accidents,’ McHale said on the Elvis Duran Show.
‘It’s a big cast of a lot of young people and things happen. I think things happen on other shows as well and you’re working with crew members and things happen to crew members, you’re not necessarily hearing about that.
‘But I just think a lot of unfortunate really horrible accidents do happen,’ he added.
McHale has moved on from Glee to on-stage productions and is currently wrapping up the Off-Broadway revival of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee before making his Broadway debut as Brad in The Rocky Horror Picture Show at Studio 54 starting August 25.
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