

At some point in 2020, Gen-Z internet unanimously agreed to hate Matthew Morrison, the generally “ok” network television actor. On TikTok and Twitter, mostly, a widely proliferating meme proclaims: “Fuck Matthew Morrison!” There is no reason for this. He is not a particularly famous person; his most notable recent project is NBC’s Grinch Musical Live, certainly not enough to warrant a generation of internet users proclaiming their disgust at the man in unison. Yet, despite a relative lack of news about the actor, this seemingly out-of-nowhere vitriol for Morrison is simple to explain. It all comes down to object permanence.
Most people learn, as a baby, that when something disappears from your field of vision, it still exists. Babies also learn other great lessons for coping with the stressors of modern life, like the idea that sometimes people look different than they used to, or that even though mom disappeared behind her hands, or a blanket, she is thankfully still there. Then, those babies get unfortunately older, and life starts to wear them down again. They get holes in their favorite jeans, break their favorite bongs, or find new ways to cope with the reality of a global pandemic. Television will be sometimes good, but mostly, television will be bad. And in a few special instances, television will be so bad that reality begins to warp around the permanent scars it left on their fickle hearts and brains. For those building rinky-dink little hate shrines to Matthew Morrison, that television was Glee. In the years since the show ended, Morrison has been a non-factor in the lives of Glee survivors. But with huge swathes of the internet re-watching the cursed show, he is back, and he is yelling: “Peek-a-boo!”
If a person managed to escape the omnipresent destructive force known as Glee while it was still on the air—most likely because they are currently over the age of 25—they should consider themselves lucky. Its reign of terror began in 2009, when then-middling showrunner Ryan Murphy, known best for Nip/Tuck, launched the show soon heralded as the future of teen programming. Created alongside Goop’s now–husband Brad Falchuk, the series featured a host of actors who were, at the time, mostly unknown: Jane Lynch, Lea Michele, Cory Monteith, Amber Riley, Jenna Ushkowitz, Naya Rivera. The man asked to oversee these adults-slash-high schoolers onscreen was Matthew Morrison: perpetual guest-star, off-Broadway actor, and occasional music maker. The series, in its original form, revolved around struggling high school teacher Mr. Will Schuester, played by Morrison, who through blatantly corrupt manipulation tactics, convinced a group of high school freaks and delinquents to band together and start a glee club. He had no reason to do this other than some sick, adolescent fantasy of his. Also, the former glee club director was fired for sexually assaulting a student.