Was Rachel and Santana's Rivalry on “Glee ”a Nod to Rumors of Lea Michele and Naya Rivera's Feud? These Stars Think So

Lea Michele and Naya Rivera got to have some fun with rumors of their behind-the-scenes feud on Glee, according to Kevin McHale and Jenna Ushkowitz.

On the latest episode of their rewatch podcast And That’s What You Really Missed, McHale and Ushkowitz dove into the ninth episode of the hit musical show’s fifth season. “Frenemies,” which originally aired in February 2014, finds Michele’s Rachel and Rivera’s Santana at odds when the latter auditions to be the former’s understudy in the Broadway production of Funny Girl.

McHale described the storyline as “self-referential,” noting that at the time, rumors swirled that there was tension between the two actresses on set.

Related: Glee's Jane Lynch, Chris Colfer and More Pay Tribute to Naya Rivera: 'What a Force You Were'

“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,” he said. “And, you know, they would have loved that s---. Like, Naya and Lea were probably like, ‘Yeah, let's do this.’ Because all those things were always blown out of proportion and not correct.”

Rivera, who drowned tragically in 2020, addressed the rumors 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. We are both strong-willed and competitive — not just with each other but with everyone — and that’s not a good mixture,” she wrote. “As the show progressed, though, that friendship started to break down, especially as Santana moved from a background character to one with bigger plot lines and more screen time. I think Rachel — erm, I mean Lea — didn’t like sharing the spotlight.”

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Related: Lea Michele Pays Tribute to Late Glee Costars Naya Rivera and Cory Monteith

“I don’t think there was, like, any beef,” Rivera told Andy Cohen of her relationship with Michele during a 2019 appearance on Watch What Happens Live.

On And That’s What You Really Missed, McHale also described Michele and Rivera’s fictional animosity in the episode as “fan service.”

“Oh, you think they hate each other?” he said. “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.”

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