Glee Likely Nodded To Lea Michele & Naya Rivera Feud In The Script

As the saying goes, art imitates life, even on Glee. On a recent episode of their Glee rewatch podcast, And That’s What You REALLY Missed, stars Kevin McHale and Jenna Ushkowitz speculated that the show nodded to feud rumors between their co-stars Lea Michele and Naya Rivera during Season 5.

In the episode “Frenemies,” Rachel Berry (Michele) and Santana Lopez (Rivera) viciously clash over Santana landing the job of Rachel’s understudy in Broadway’s Funny Girl, resulting in a slap heard around the world. McHale pointed out how the storyline poked fun at rumors of a real-life feud between the two when the episode aired in February 2014.

“I think the self-referential stuff that we’ve always done is perfect in this episode,” he told his co-host Ushkowitz. “Because I don’t see how it was not intentional that they’re going at it in this episode in such a specific way when there were, like, rumors out in the world that they didn’t get along.”

Hilariously, McHale thinks both of them had fun leaning into the drama. “You know they would have loved that sh*t,” he quipped. “Naya and Lea were probably like, ‘Yeah, let’s do this.’”

Lea & Naya’s Story

The late Rivera opened up about her relationship with Michele in her 2016 memoir, Sorry Not Sorry: Dreams, Mistakes and Growing Up. “One of the Glee writers once said that Lea and I were like two sides of the same battery and that about sums us up,” she wrote. “We are both strong-willed and competitive — not just with each other but with everyone — and that’s not a good mixture.”

While the two were still cordial, Rivera noted that her friendship with Michele deteriorated as Santana grew into a more full-fledged character, mirroring how their onscreen frenemy dynamic fell apart when Santana became Rachel’s understudy. “I think Rachel — erm, I mean Lea — didn’t like sharing the spotlight,” she added.

Was Their Feud Really That Bad?

That said, Rivera clarified in 2019 that their feud was not that serious, and she even liked Michele’s engagement announcement on Instagram. “I don’t think there was, like, any beef,” she told Watch What Happens Live host Andy Cohen.

McHale concurred with Rivera on his podcast, emphasizing that the feud reports at the time were overblown. “All those things were always blown out of proportion and not correct,” he clarified.

However, he thinks the stories made this episode even better. “Watching it was also, like, fan service in a way,” he said. “Like, ‘Oh, you think they hate each other? Let’s give it to you.’ And it works because they’re also playing into it. It’s like they’re in on the gag of it all.”