Kevin McHale, best known for playing Artie Abrams on Glee, has strongly pushed back against the long-circulating online theory often referred to as the ‘Glee Curse.’
The actor used social media on July 29, 2026 to criticize people who continue to attach that label to the deaths of former cast members, making clear that he finds the idea cruel and dehumanizing.
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 fucking diabolical and untethered from any sort of humanity or reality. get fucked.
— Kevin McHale (@druidDUDE) July 29, 2026
“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. Get f***ed.”
This is not the first time McHale has spoken out on the subject. The 38-year-old has repeatedly addressed the conspiracy-style discussion that has continued to follow the series for years after multiple tragedies involving people connected to the show. Much of the renewed interest in the “curse” narrative came following the January 2023 release of Investigation Discovery’s three-part docuseries “The Price of Glee,” which examined the deaths of cast and crew members alongside behind-the-scenes drama.
Much of that speculation has centered on the deaths of Cory Monteith, who played Finn Hudson and died in 2013, Mark Salling, who played Puck and died in 2018, and Naya Rivera, who played Santana Lopez and died in 2020. Several crew members who worked behind the scenes have also passed away over the years, including assistant director Jim Fuller and prop master Paul, who both died of heart attacks, as well as production assistant Nancy Motes and an unnamed rigger, who both died by suicide.
During an appearance on the Zach Sang Show last year, McHale said he is deeply uncomfortable with the way those separate losses are repeatedly bundled together under a sensational online phrase.
“Calling it a ‘curse’ is just insensitive,” McHale shared. “It completely diminishes who these people were. They were human beings who had lives, families, and struggles—or in Naya’s case, died doing something heroic for her son. To reduce their lives and their deaths to some sensationalized internet narrative is really hurtful.”
He has also stressed that this kind of storytelling distracts from the real lives and legacies of the people involved. Rivera’s death in July 2020 remains especially painful for many, as she drowned after helping her young son back onto their rented boat while they were swimming at Lake Piru.
“Naya saved her child’s life,” McHale pointed out. “That’s not a curse—that’s a mother’s ultimate act of love and heroism. When people lump everything together into a clickbait headline, it erases the reality of what actually happened and ignores the real grief that their families and friends carry every day.”
McHale has said it is unsettling to see such an important period of his life continually interpreted through a grim internet narrative, especially by people who never knew the cast members personally. He has previously criticized “The Price of Glee” docuseries, telling media outlets he and his castmates had “nothing to do with it.”
Even with that painful history and the public fixation around it, McHale has stayed close with a number of his former castmates. He and Jenna Ushkowitz, for example, co-host the rewatch podcast And That’s What You REALLY Missed, where they revisit the series and the memories tied to it. He recently appeared in an Off-Broadway production of “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee,” where he has been able to continue his theatrical work while maintaining connections to the entertainment industry.
For him, honoring Monteith, Rivera, and others means focusing on their talent, personality, and the impact they had on those around them, rather than allowing their names to be absorbed into internet mythmaking.
“We choose to remember them for how bright they shone and how much joy they brought into our lives,” he concluded. “Not for a buzzword people use on social media.”