Top 10 Times Glee Poorly Handled Serious Issues

It sadly wasn’t uncommon for TV shows to mock Britney Spears in the early 2010s, but after “Britney/Brittany,” fans assumed that “Glee” was on her side. The episode not only paid homage to several of Spears’ greatest hits, but also featured the singer in a prominent cameo role. After such a fantastic tribute, “Britney 2.0” felt like a betrayal. In the episode, Brittany Pierce is dismissed from the Cheerios, and has a breakdown not unlike Britney’s infamous public breakdown of the late 2000s. Knowing what we know today about Britney’s personal life, the whole thing just comes across as distasteful and inappropriate.

In “Glee”s first season, a significant amount of time is spent focusing on Quinn Fabray’s pregnancy. It fuels relationship drama, familial woes, and Terri Schuester’s fake baby scheme. What “Glee” doesn’t show is the reality of being pregnant at such a young age. Unlike Terri, Quinn really has a baby growing inside her - we see it! - but you’d never know that from the way she acts. She never seems to take a single day off school, and she has no problems dancing with the rest of the glee club mere minutes before giving birth. While it’s true that “Glee” covers the negative social aspects of teenage pregnancy pretty well, they dropped the ball when it came to the physical side of things.

When “Glee” began promoting the fact that its next episode would feature gun violence at the school, people were understandably wary. The musical comedy series had been championed for its portrayal of LGBTQ+ issues, but could be hit or miss when it came to approaching other serious subject matter. These fears were proven to be founded when “Shooting Star” aired in 2013. Though the season four episode accurately portrays the fear associated with such a serious threat, the reveal that it was all an accident meant that the show could quickly move on from the plot without any long-lasting effects. When the biggest takeaway from an episode tackling this topic is that one of the characters is being catfished, maybe there shouldn’t have been an episode about it to begin with!

You may think you remember “Glee” well, but do you remember how Will Schuester became the club’s coach? In the pilot episode of the series, Sandy Ryerson, is fired for inappropriately touching students. It’s implied that Rachel Berry reported him out of jealousy, but it’s still a pretty serious accusation that’s shown to have some weight to it. In spite of this, Sandy is not a one-off character. He later becomes a part of Will’s a cappella group, sells drugs to kids off-campus, and even gets rehired by the school as an arts administrator! This predator should be in jail, but “Glee” continuously treated him like a harmless weirdo.

Look, we know Santana isn’t the nicest character in glee club. But Finn’s rebuttal still crossed a line. Sure, he had no way of knowing that his words would be overheard and put on TVs across the state, but outing someone is always a bad move. When Santana vents about the experience, the repeated reply is “everybody already knew.” Not only does this completely dismiss her feelings, but it also isn’t true. The situation forces her to come out to her abuela, who disowns her. When Finn eventually apologizes with a slowed down rendition of “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun,” it shouldn’t be enough, but Santana surprisingly forgives him. It seems out of character, but the “Glee” writers quickly moved on to a new plotline.

In “Glee”s first season, the series seems to set itself apart from other teen shows by taking a strong stance against student-teacher relationships. Rachel has a crush on glee coach, Will Schuester, but he quickly sets things straight through song. Unfortunately, “Glee” would appear to go back on this stance just two seasons later, when it introduced a relationship between Puck and Shelby. Sure, Puck is meant to be 18 when the relationship happens, but Shelby is still significantly older than him - and working at his high school. She should be fired! Quinn seems to be one of the only people who understands this, but she’s convinced to keep quiet for the sake of her baby.

“Glee” was celebrated for its portrayal of LGBTQ+ issues, but it was better at representing the L and G than it was anything else. Unique Adams was a decent attempt at transgender representation, but faced transphobia more than she did acceptance. When bathrooms became an issue, the solution was to give Unique access to the school employees' bathroom rather than take a stance against prejudice, and the character’s main romantic plotline involved catfishing. Coach Beiste received more understanding, but the character saying he “felt like this [his] whole life” sort of retconned any plot he had had previously in which he was upset about not being seen as a woman. It’s a shame “Glee” didn’t take the opportunity to show a more nuanced portrayal of transness.

One would think that after all of the teasing and picking on that Kurt faced for his own sexuality, he would be open to someone else’s. Unfortunately, that isn’t the case - and “Glee” doesn’t seem eager to teach him to be understanding, either. In the season two episode “Blame it on the Alcohol,” Blaine kisses Rachel while drunk and briefly considers that he may be bisexual. Throughout the episode, Kurt completely dismisses the idea, perpetuating the biphobic idea that bisexuality is simply a “phase.” Brittany is later revealed to actually be bisexual, but even she faces unchallenged biphobia. In New York, Santana begins dating a girl named Dani and expresses that she’s happy she doesn’t have to “compete” with men with her like she did with Brittany.

The New Directions have had some pretty abysmal reactions to serious topics in the past, but never quite as bad as this. In “Lights Out,” Ryder tells the glee club that his older female babysitter assaulted him when he was a kid. It’s a serious moment of vulnerability that should be met with understanding. Unfortunately, Sam and Artie ruin the moment by asking why Ryder is upset and insisting that what happened was actually cool. Will tries to shut down their inappropriate comments, but the damage is already done. Ryder leaves the room upset, and the two older boys never have to apologize for or reconsider their weird commentary.

When Sue forced Mercedes to go on a diet in “Home,” it manifested into an eating disorder. The ending was body positive, but it was still clear that the show wasn’t really equipped to handle the topic. Three seasons later, they tried again. Somehow, it turned out even worse. In “Glease,” Kitty begins altering Marley’s costumes for the musical in order to make her think she’s gaining weight. She also convinces Marley to engage in harmful behaviors. It takes a huge scare at the school for Kitty to finally apologize, but at that point the plotline is pretty much over. No one learns anything from the experience and, in the next season, Mr. Schue even suspends Marley from the glee club for refusing to wear a revealing outfit.