August 13, 2020
Jane Lynch Remembers 'Glee' Co-star Naya Rivera: 'She Was a Great Advocate'
Kilian Melloy READ TIME: 5 MIN.
Jane Lynch, who played coach Sue Sylvester on Ryan Murphy's 2009 - 2025 musical dramedy "Glee," appeared on "TODAY" to talk with host Jenna Bush Hager about her late co-star, Naya Rivera.
Calling Rivera a "force of nature" and recalling how she had effortlessly been able to learn her "three-page monologues" during the production of the popular series, Lynch - who is openly lesbian - talked about how Rivera's character having a same-sex relationship on the show provided representation for LGBTQ youth.
"She was a great advocate and loved the fact that she and Heather Morris had the lesbian relationship on the show and how much that meant to so many young people," Lynch said.
Rivera was friends with Lynch's niece Meg Doyle, who was an assistant on the production.
Doyle posted her own praises for Rivera at Instagram last month, following the tragic news of Rivera's accidental drowning in a boating accident. News reports indicated that Riviera had saved her young son but was unable to get out of the water and back into their boat.
"Anyone in Naya's crew had a feisty, witty, 110 pound bodyguard on their side," Doyle recalled in her July 13 post.
"She had a knack for seeing through someone's bullshit, and she knew if I was lying when I said I was okay," Doyle went on to add in her post. "She also had a knack for dropping a filthy one-liner, exiting the room and leaving us with our jaws on the floor."
Kilian Melloy serves as EDGE Media Network's Associate Arts Editor and Staff Contributor. His professional memberships include the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association, the Boston Online Film Critics Association, The Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association, and the Boston Theater Critics Association's Elliot Norton Awards Committee.