The cast of Glee virtually reunited at the 32nd Annual GLAAD Media Awards on Thursday to remember and honor their late cast-mate Naya Rivera, who tragically passed away last July at the age of 33.
Listen to your favorite music now on Audacy
The tribute was opened by Demi Lovato, who also had a brief role on the Fox series, playing Rivera's girlfriend Dani in season 5. “I don’t have to tell you that this year was a tough, tough year,” Lovato said. “A particular moment of heartbreak stands out for me: losing my friend Naya Rivera. I will always cherish the chance I got to play Naya’s girlfriend, Dani, on Glee’”
The character Naya played, Santana Lopez, was ground-breaking for closeted queer girls — like I was at the time,” she went on. “And her ambition and accomplishments inspired Latina women all over the world.”
Lovato then let the Glee cast take it away, which included Jacob Artist, Chris Colfer, Darren Criss, Jessalyn Gilsig, Dot-Marie Jones, Vanessa Lengies, Jane Lynch, Kevin McHale, Heather Morris, Matthew Morrison, Alex Newell, Lauren Potter, Amber Riley, Harry Shum Jr., Becca Tobin and Jenna Ushkowitz, who all took turns remembering Rivera and the impact she had on the queer youth community during and after her role on Glee.
Santana started off being the character you loved to hate, best known for her high pony and no doubt funny but rather rude, harsh, and often stereotyping one liners. However, by the end of series, Santana was just as talented, still a little rude, fiercely and unapologetically queer, but most importantly so much more which her castmates pointed out, so was Naya.
“There was so much more than met the eye with Naya,” said Criss. Followed by Lynch reminiscing about how impressed she was with how great of a performer Rivera was when she became a series regular.
Then Tobin, Ushkowitz and Newell fan-girled over Naya’s amazing performance of “Nutbush City Limits,” with Newell asserting, “she quite literally turned that song out.” Which if you’ve seen, know is nothing but the truth.
McHale chimed in to note when referring to Rivera, everyone said the same thing about how she treated everyone with kindness. Ushkowitz added, “She made everybody laugh on screen and off but the real win is if you made her laugh because you knew you actually did something really funny.”
Morrison recalled their friendship during filming, but offered that he and Naya bonded even more once they both had children, and talked about how great of a mother she was to her son Josey. “Her best role was her being a mom,” Ushkowitz added. “That was the most fulfilling, to see her do that.”
Additionally the cast celebrated the 10th anniversary of Santana’s coming-out storyline on “Glee,” during a time where there was little LGBTQ representation on television, especially when it came to queer people of color. “That scene when Santana came out to her grandmother and was rejected, it still makes me cry,” Lengies said.
From her “hood adjacent” spats with each and every Glee Club member, to her original song “Trouty Mouth,” and when she referred to her boob job as her “summer surgery,” her Yeast-I-Stat commercial, and her coming out performance of “Landslide” with her lady love Britney S. Pearce, should we go on? Throughout her 6 seasons on Glee, Naya, as Santana, made us laugh, cry, and laugh so hard we cried.
Rivera’s mother, Yolanda Previtire wasn’t able to join in on the tribute, but did however share a message in celebration of her daughter’s achievements. “Naya would be honored to receive this recognition. When Naya was told that Santana would be a lesbian she called me to let me know and I asked her how did she feel about that and she said ‘I feel great about it!’”
“Little did we know that she would impact so many people in the LGBTQ community,” continued Previtire. “Her desire was to always be an advocate to those who did not have a voice. I don’t believe that she realized how important she was to this world. I am grateful that my eldest daughter helped to change the landscape of how e view and see each other. Thank you GLAAD for keeping my daughter’s legacy alive.”
Watch the full tribute below.
WATCH MORE: Pop Artists That Identify As LGBTQ
LISTEN on the Audacy App
Sign Up and Follow Audacy
Facebook | Twitter | Instagram