Were they cursed or was it a tragedy? Exploring the Glee Curse and why we seek conspiracy in celebrity deaths

If you are not familiar, Glee is a comedy/drama TV show created by Ryan Murphy that ran from 2009-2015. With six seasons, plenty of episodes, and 40-minute durations, this show was centered around a Glee club at McKinley High School in Lima, Ohio. The Glee Club is composed of several notable characters who have a wide range of personalities, and they set out to perform popular show tunes as well as attempting to gain popularity at the school since they are seen as “Lima Losers”. We also follow their journey to compete at nationals and look at life after high school, while focusing on Glee Club after all the main characters basically graduate.

After hearing this show is just about kids in high school singing, you may be wondering how they are cursed? Well, the jokes made in the show itself are very bold, and some of these jokes were almost seen to come true when it came to the deaths of Cory Monteith, Mark Salling, and Naya Rivera, all who were predominant cast members themselves. Based on lines said by these characters that are somehow slightly related to their deaths, which is very much reaching, fans conspire that the show itself was cursed and predicted the fact they would die by making these insane connections. Not only this, but several behind the scenes crew tragically passed away during filming as well, which aids the fans theory of a curse.

The first death to occur amongst the cast was that of Corey Monteith, who played loveable quarterback Finn Hudson on the show. He unfortunately passed away at the age of 31 in between filming seasons four and five after a drug overdose, this follows after an ongoing battle with drug addiction Monteith was facing. An episode was dedicated to his character but was very personal for the cast themselves. Fans were claiming the show predicted this from the start as in the first few episodes, Glee club teacher Mr. Schue, played by Matthew Morrison, plants drugs in Hudson’s locker in order to blackmail him into joining the Glee club. Yes, this small scene has fans conspiring that it predicted his future drug addiction that led to his death.

In 2015 Mark Salling, who played playboy Noah Puckerman, was arrested for possession of child pornography and before his sentencing in January 2018, he committed suicide at the age of 35. Noah Puckerman was the delinquent character who was constantly in trouble, he relentlessly bullied the Glee club and called them a bunch of “gleeks”. In the series, his fling Quinn Fabrey becomes pregnant with his baby after she cheats on Hudson with Puckerman. Puckerman then joins Glee club to get closer to her and it may have fixed his bad ways for a bit, but he was simply a troubled character until the end. It is pretty clear the fans had a lot of material to conspire around this as Puckerman often made jokes in the show that one day he would just end up in jail or dead, which is exactly what happened to Salling.

The most recent death to occur is of Naya Rivera, who played my favorite character and one I resonated most with. Rivera played Santanna Lopez, sarcastic cheerleader on the Cheerios, who has dreams of being famous and only joins Glee club on a mission to take them down. She becomes very loveable and even more relatable as she struggles with her sexuality throughout the seasons. Rivera’s character became an inspiration to many as she showcased the struggles of being a Queer person of color who wants to love without worrying what people will think of her. Rivera, 33, tragically drowned in Lake Piru in 2020 after saving her son who fell off of their boat as they had a day out near their California home. There was a five-day search for her body and during this, fans began to form a conspiracy theory of what happened. Was there foul play? Did she actually drown? What did her son have to say? Fans even held a vigil at Lake Piru for Rivera and would camp out for that photo moment of when they found her body. In their grief, fans linked a joke Santanna makes in the show that is along the lines of not being able to swim or drowning to Rivera’s death. This is when the cast had enough. A tragedy that impacted a tight knit group of friends, a son lost his mother, and a family lost their daughter. Yet all fans wanted to do was tweet about a Glee curse?

Kevin McHale, former Glee star and actor, slammed those who jumped to this conclusion on X as he stated “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.” In my opinion as a huge fan of the show, he is right. Calling it a curse is super inconsiderate, and it is our inclination to conspire that leads us to hurt and torment those who must live on knowing that their closest friend who passed away is becoming labeled as a part of a curse.

An interesting answer as to why we establish curses, or names for groups of people who tragically pass such as those in the “27 Club”, who have all died at the age of 27, comes from psychologist Natasha Tiwari. Tiwari theorizes that “The narrative of curses can be quite compelling; [they can] offer a coping mechanism in uncertain times, [or in] scenarios which otherwise are sources of sadness and anxiety.” When people die so young, we always seek the why. Why did this happen to someone so young, someone who had fame and a career. The public is obsessed with those who have died young, because we simply can’t handle the grief of being alive and not getting to see someone live out their full potential. Western culture is different when it comes to death. We want to avoid it when it is our own loved ones, because it is too personal, yet it is safe enough to come together to grieve communally over public figures because we can actually form a community that understands. We want to keep their memories alive and make all attempts to continue their legacy for them, because we cannot cope with death. Theories are coping mechanisms, and it is not just the Glee cast affected. Princess Diana, Amy Winehouse, Heath Ledger, Kurt Cobain, Marilyn Monroe and so many more and what do they have in common? We continue to wonder why, and we create conspiracy and phenomenon to cope with the fact they are not here, and we will never see them continue their legacy. In reality, these people simply were unfortunate in life and encountered death in unpredictable ways at young ages. There is no curse, no conspiracy theory, or no phenomenon to explain this, it is simply human nature.