The Cast Of “Glee” (Sans Lea Michele) Will Perform A Tribute To Naya Rivera At The GLAAD Awards
Deadline reports that on April 8, a bunch of Glee stars (sans Lea Michele) will reunite and perform a special tribute to Naya Rivera at the 32nd Annual GLAAD Media Awards. The awards will take place exactly nine months after Naya’s tragic death at age 33. It will honor the tenth anniversary of her character, Santana Lopez, coming out as a lesbian and spotlight Santana’s impact on LGBTQ teens and Latin LGBTQ representation on TV. The tribute will be introduced by Demi Lovato, who played Santana’s girlfriend on the show. Short-lived girlfriend. As we all know, Brittany S. Pierce was Santana’s #1.
Here’s who’s taking part: Chris Colfer, Amber Riley, Darren Criss, Jane Lynch, Kevin McHale, Heather Morris, Matthew Morrison, Alex Newell, Jenna Ushkowitz, Jacob Artist, Vanessa Lengies, and Becca Tobin. Lea Michele’s not the only missing cast member. Dianna Agron, Chord Overstreet, Melissa Benoist, and Samantha Marie Ware are also not involved. But Lea’s the most glaring omission, being that Rachel Berry was the star of the show. I guess Lea’s busy with the baby! Or she knows everyone still hates her. Or she knows everyone knows Naya probably hated her.
This year’s GLAAD Awards will be hosted by Niecy Nash, who publicly came out (or “went into herself”) when she got married to Jessica Betts last August. The ceremony will stream on both YouTube and Hulu.
As someone who has seen every episode of Glee at least three times (2009-2015 was a rough time, OK?), I can’t wait to watch the Naya tribute. Here is my official expert prediction on what they’ll perform: They’ll start with Valerie, follow that up with the Rumour Has It/Someone Like You mashup, then Amber Riley will lead the group in River Deep, Mountain High, then they maaaaay throw in Don’t Stop Believing (cuz it’s Glee), and the final song will either be Songbird or If I Die Young. Probably Songbird. And everyone will cry at the end, including me. I just hope they don’t do The Chipmunk Song because then I’ll cry again but for a different reason.
Pic: YouTube