Top 10 Cringiest Glee Moments
#10: “Toxic” Mr. Schuester “Britney/Brittany”
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At first, Will is strongly against the club covering Britney Spears because he thinks she isn’t a good role model. But he ends up giving her a run for her money in that department. Not only does he do a complete 180, but he also decides to perform Britney with the kids at the assembly. Unsurprisingly, he’s trying to annoy Sue and win Emma - who’s dating successful and carefree dentist, Carl - back. The rendition is wildly inappropriate and embarrassing to watch. He’s an adult man singing and dancing extremely suggestively with, and in front of, teenagers. Plus, the whole thing sews chaos amongst a hormonal student body, which is so awkward. We honestly can’t help wondering how Mr. Schue’s not in jail after this.
#9: Tater Tots Riot “The Substitute”
In a pretty tone-deaf move, the show made the only plus-sized member of Glee club the one that’s obsessed with tots. When interim principal Sue bans tater tots from the school menu, Mercedes is outraged. She becomes distracted, and decides to wage a war to get her beloved side back. In fact, she stands up in the cafeteria with a sign, which starts a protest chant that everybody joins in. She even puts the food in the tailpipe of Coach Sylvester’s car, supposedly causing $17 000 in damages. That is a lot of effort to go through just for potatoes. For some reason, these kids can’t get tater tots they like enough anywhere else. Honestly, we’ve never heard of a school with food that good.
#8: Glee Club Takes Decongestants “Vitamin D”
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Despite having no experience, Mr. Schue’s wife gets hired as Mckinley’s new nurse. Meanwhile, Will sets up a guys vs girls competition in Glee club. The winner’s number goes to Sectionals. So what could possibly go wrong? Well, when Terri sees an exhausted Finn, she gives him over-the-counter drugs to keep him alert. He thinks the decongestant is harmless, and gives some to the other guys. They deliver an energetic and crazy performance. To even the playing field, the girls take the medicine before their presentation too. Mr. Schue doesn’t realize that everyone is high, and showers them with praise. This episode definitely gave us some entertaining numbers, but the whole concept of teenagers being drugged by their nurse without anyone noticing is disturbing, to say the least.
#7: “La Cucaracha” “The Spanish Teacher”
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It’s Spanish week in Glee Club! So, of course, Will and some of the Glee club guys perform "La Cucaracha" in stereotypical costumes. It’s an incredibly problematic and out of touch performance. Not to mention that Mr. Schue shouldn't be the Spanish teacher in the first place. The performance is understandably not well received by the class, and Will is reported, though nothing much comes of it. Somehow he still doesn’t get it and prepares another terrible and offensive performance. This time, Santana confronts him. Will stops teaching Spanish, but it’s a pretty surface-level exploration of racial dynamics overall.
#6: “You’re All Minorities” “Throwdown”
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Once again, the Fox hit missed a golden opportunity to tackle race and disability in a meaningful way. As co-director of the Glee club, Coach Sylvester forms Sue’s Kids with the admittedly under-appreciated marginalized students. Yet instead of exploring what it’s like to be a minority in high school, the episode is centered around Will and Sue’s fighting. The ending is particularly problematic, with the writers going for an “I don’t see color” approach as Will tells the kids they’re all the same because they are part of his club. As if joining an unpopular club is equivalent to centuries of oppression and discrimination. This erases the experiences of the minorities on the show, and of those watching it too.
#5: “The Fox” “Puppet Master”
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Of all the performances the Glee club gave us, this has to be one of the most ridiculous. The plot starts out normally enough, with everybody mad at Blaine for being too controlling. But then, in true Ryan Murphy fashion, things get weird. There’s a gas leak, and Blaine passes out. He hallucinates the Glee club performing, except they’re all puppets and somehow this helps him realize the error of his ways. When he wakes up, he realizes he was wrong. To apologize, he makes personalized puppets for every club member. They all dress up and sing the Ylvis hit with their marionettes. It’s truly a strange moment. The question of why any of this had to happen is something only the writers know.
#4: Tina Rubs Vaporub on Blaine “Diva”
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When Blaine comes down with a bad cold, Tina makes it her mission to help him. At first it seems like she’s just being a good friend. However, it quickly becomes apparent that she has a crush on him. He clearly expresses that he’s not romantically interested in girls. Still, that’s not enough for her. She professes her love to him anyway. Except it’s when he’s on a bunch of medicine, and is out cold. While he’s unconscious and can’t consent, she applies Vaporub on him in a provocative and borderline predatory way. Sure, she sheds a few tears along the way, but she also stares just a bit too hard and too long, making the whole scene disturbing and uncomfortable to watch.
#3: Glee Club Learns to Twerk “The End of Twerk”
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It’s almost time for Nationals, and Mr. Schue thinks twerking is the key to victory. He tells Jake and Kitty to teach the rest of the kids how it's done. Why does this man want to watch high school kids twerk? It’s already so wrong, and somehow it only gets worse. Will decides that defending the dance is the hill he wants to die on, telling the school board it’s the next Waltz. There’s nothing wrong with twerking; it just shouldn’t be what kids do with their teacher. As if the whole thing wasn’t troublesome enough, they end up performing to Robin Thicke’s controversial “Blurred Lines.” Of course, Will thinks it’s an Alan Thicke song about life because he really doesn’t pay attention.
#2: Rachel’s Crush on Mr. Schuester “Ballad”
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It’s time for duets, and Rachel doesn’t have a partner. Instead of letting her ask one of the kids to sing with her, Will accepts - albeit hesitantly - to do it. This can only be described as a terrible idea. During their rehearsal, it becomes painfully obvious that Rachel has feelings for him. He should shut it down but inexplicably, he keeps singing. He’s scared to reject her directly because a student once tried to commit suicide after he refused her advances. Therefore, he tries to tell her by song. Even so, her infatuation only grows stronger. She shows up at his house, and even makes him a CD. The whole storyline is unsettling and hard to watch. It might even be worse when you consider that Lea Michele and Matthew Morisson dated before “Glee”. Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions. Quinn Convinced Finn He’s Her Baby Daddy Even Though They Never Had Sex, “Preggers” “Let's Have a Kiki/Turkey Lurkey Time” Does Not Make for the “Best Thanksgiving Ever,” “Thanksgiving” Sue Marries Herself, “Furt” Did Tina’s Solo Have to Be for an Asian Song?, “Thanksgiving” Mercedes’ Crush on Kurt, “Acafellas”
#1: Will Rapping Various
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For a middle-aged white man, Will Schuester sure loves to rap. It’s too bad he’s not very good at it. He seizes any and every opportunity to drop the beat. It’s usually unprovoked and unnecessary. And his constant infusion of inappropriately sexual choreography everytime he fails to rap certainly doesn’t help his case. He’s supposed to be teaching these kids. It seems the only thing anybody learns while watching Mr. Schue rap is why he never made it any further than his own high school Glee club. It’s also far from being an isolated incident. He kept doing it, and we all let him. These performances of his are always so difficult to watch. Yet they’re also so bad it’s almost impossible to look away.
