Entertainment gossip and news from Newsweek's network of contributors
Some episodes of Glee aged like fine wine — this one, not so much.
On Sunday, December 15, Kevin McHale and Jenna Ushkowitz, who played Artie and Tina, revisited the season 5 episode "Previously Unaired Christmas" on their podcast And That's What You REALLY Missed. Spoiler alert: they weren't fans.
The episode in question aired in December 2013 with a cheeky intro by Jane Lynch (Sue Sylvester), claiming it had been "banned" by Fox before finally making it to air. But that tongue-in-cheek premise didn't soften the blow for the Glee actors.
"We knew it was very offensive," Ushkowitz, 38, admitted. The goal was humor, but the punchlines missed. "You had to commit so hard because it was so bad."
The standout cringe moment? The disco-style nativity scene featuring the song "Love Child." The Tony Award winner recalled thinking, "Wow, we've really hit our bottom." McHale, 36, added, "I don't think it's supposed to be bad. It's supposed to be controversial. I mean, like bad is good when it's funny... This just felt like being controversial for controversial's sake."
Other eyebrow-raising moments included Rachel (played by Lea Michele), Kurt (played by Chris Colfer), and Santana (played by Naya Rivera) dressed as elves who get conned. And let's not forget Santana's portrayal of Mrs. Claus.
"Santana as Miss Claus probably was the worst of it all," noted Ushkowitz.
But for McHale, it was hard to pick just one low point. "I don't even know. I think that's up there with, like, Becky being made Baby Jesus," the Grammy-nominated performer explained. "Kitty [played by Becca Tobin] saying super racist and defensive things to Unique [played by Alex Newell] and Tina."
He continued, "And then Santana saying all these insane things to children, to, like, actual children. Being like fat shaming, anti-Semitic, talking about porn. And then Kurt was sexually assaulted. So okay, where do we go from there?"
Despite the awkward memories, the pair praised their co-stars and crew for pushing through. "Good on you and Melissa [Benoist] and Alex, because you guys had some crazy s*** to do, and you sold it," McHale noted. (Benoist, now 36, played Marley Rose on the hit show.)
Glee aired from May 2009 to March 2015.
English (US) ·