“Glee” star Max Adler, who turned in his most powerful performance to date this week as Kurt’s former bully, David Karofsky, says the team behind the hit FOX series is hoping to raise awareness of cyberbullying and its effects on LGBT youth.
Max stopped by Access Hollywood Live on Wednesday, where he shared how he prepared for the moving performance.
“I put the work in to figure out what motivates that stuff and if you read the articles and talk to the people out there that are cyberbullied, you understand that it’s such a desperate action and there’s no way out,” Max, whose character attempted suicide on Tuesday’s episode after his classmates at his new school discovered he was gay, told Billy Bush and Kit Hoover.
“This is an important issue to tackle. The main message is that there is hope,” the 26-year-old actor said. “You’ve just got to find someone that loves you and accepts you for who you are, which Karofsky found in [Chris Colfer’s character] Kurt.”
Max believes the advances in technology have made bullying easier for the bullies and much harder for the victims.
“It’s kind of gone from the old school, hand-to-hand combat method, where you could see someone’s face and really see the emotions, to now, it’s just the click of the button — from another country you can crush someone’s spirit,” he told Billy and Kit. “I feel like people don’t realize that because they’re desensitized because it’s just a screen… they don’t feel it. It doesn’t feel connected… Not only do we hope to give a message to the victims of bullying, but to the people who are doing the bullying to show just how you can really affect somebody.”
The “Glee” star is also hoping that schools and educators take bigger steps to combat to sometimes deadly issue.
“You’ve got school districts telling principals and teachers that you can’t say the word gay. You can’t teach about homosexual poets and they’re trying to push it away like it doesn’t exist. It just makes people more curious and I feel like it does need to be talked about,” he continued. “Hopefully, we’ll change people’s mind and their perception of things.”
The other shocking moment of the “Glee” winter finale came when Dianna Agron’s character, Quinn, was hit by a truck while texting and driving. What did Dianna have to say about the shocking episode, just days before it aired? CLICK HERE for Access’ interview with Dianna!
“Glee” returns on April 10 on FOX at 8 PM.
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