Every Time the ‘Glee’ Cast Roasted the Show After the Musical Comedy Ended

After ‘Glee’ went off the air in March 2015, the stars have been outspoken about its messy plotlines and weird moments on set — find out more

A slushy in the face for the messy Glee plotlines! Years later, many of the stars of Glee have been outspoken about their disdain for the source material and its often tone-deaf, inappropriate content.

While appearing on the “LadyGang” podcast in August 2021, Darren Criss (who portrayed Blaine) was asked about the “worst cover” that was performed on the former Fox musical-comedy, alongside cohost — and former costar— Becca Tobin.

“Oof, that’s too hard; there’s too many versions of songs,” he quipped. After a brief debate, the pair agreed on “The Fox” by Ylvis from the seventh episode of season 5, even noting it was “conventionally understood as a huge ‘oops.’”

“It was so weird,” the American Crime Story alum explained. “It was one of these 15 minutes of fame for this song and they just decided to put it into the show. I had fun because it was ridiculous.”

The Golden Globe nominee recalled the number’s weirdness during the interview. “The more absurd it is, the funnier it is to me,” he said. “So I’m sure there were people who were like, ‘What the f—k is this?’ and I was like, ‘I know, right?!’”

Criss’ admission is hardly the first time one of his former costars called out the show for its messy plotlines, confusing character arcs or bizarre song choices. Jenna Ushkowitz, who played Tina on the show, told Tyler Oakley in a May 2019 YouTube video that there were “lots” of messy story lines across the show’s six seasons. During a YouTube quiz, the Broadway alum joined Kevin McHale to dish about the weirdest ones, in which McHale also shared his disdain for the weirdness that was their “The Fox” number.

“[The moment he noticed the show was bizarre] was me turning to the camera during ‘What the Fox Say,’ and just being, like, [he made a sassy face],” McHale told Oakley at the time.

The show’s creator, Ryan Murphy, even had a few choice numbers that he regretted putting on during the show’s heyday. During a February 2017 interview on Watch What Happens Live! With Andy Cohen, Murphy revealed what he thought was the show’s worst performance.

At the time, a caller asked the Hollywood creator which song he “regrets” the most, to which Murphy quickly replied, “I am mortified that we did ‘Gangnam Style’ by Psy. I will say, like, not our finest moment.”

The Fox show, which began airing in 2009, followed the William McKinley High School glee club, the New Directions, as they worked to balance high school with competitive show choir aspirations. During the episodes, the cast — including Lea Michele, Cory Monteith, Dianna Agron, Matthew Morrison, Naya Rivera and more — sang a variety of musical covers and original numbers that corresponded to the weekly plot or a character’s season-long arc.

Scroll below to relive all the times that the Glee cast roasted their own show after it went off the air: