Why Would Anyone Take Anything Ryan Murphy Says Seriously?

UPDATED: Since writing this piece, Murphy gave an interview to Deadline where he spoke about the star "firings" and blamed the media for blowing it out of proportion and the stars themselves for ruining the chances of a future spin-off. He literally used the "take this ball and go home" excuse. In a later interview with Deadline, he also admits to being a bit of a jerk, but one who immediately shows remorse after being a jerk. Right. For reference, I still don't take anything he says seriously. Neither should you.

At Comic-Con last weekend, Glee executive producer Brad Falchuk made waves by announcing Lea Michele, Chris Colfer and Cory Monteith were not leaving the show at the end of season three, despite the fact their characters will still graduate. "I don't know where that reporter got that information," he said about the two-week old THR story which claimed the trio was finished. "Just because they're graduating doesn't mean they're leaving the show."

Here's where that reporter got the information: Ryan Murphy.

I'm not the first person to take Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk to task for their respective bullshit skills — and I'm probably not the last — but, why not pile on? Below, find the pertinent portion of the interview Murphy did with THR, posted on July 13.

THR: Will we see a Season 4 with Chris Colfer (Kurt) and Lea Michele (Rachel)?
Murphy: No.

THR: We will not?
Murphy: They are graduating.

THR: What about Cory Monteith?
Murphy: Cory is graduating. Those are the only three I’m going to say.

THR: They’re not going to be back at all in Season 4?
Murphy: No.

OK, then! For his part, Falchuk tried to save face at Comic-Con, claiming Murphy told him he never said the above remarks. If you believe him, though, perhaps you'd also be interested in purchasing the Brooklyn Bridge from me. After all, I have the deed right here. (Trust me.)

By the way, this all went down on Saturday, 11 days after the interview went live. Do Falchuk and Murphy want us to believe that the quotes were made up, disseminated fifty times over throughout the blogosphere, and at no point did anyone in a management capacity on the show go out of their way to correct them? Apparently so. Though why anyone is surprised by this hilarious bit of nonsense is beyond me. After all, this is Ryan Murphy we're talking about. This is the Glee monster he has created.

This is the same Ryan Murphy who said before season two that he would be adding a Christian character to Glee. (He never did, and he's still talking out of his ass about it on The Glee Project). The same Ryan Murphy who said that Javier Bardem would guest star on Glee. (He didn't.) The same Ryan Murphy who said that Finn and Rachel would never break up during season two. (They did.) The same Ryan Murphy who said the post-Super Bowl episode would feature one artist. (It didn't.) The same Ryan Murphy who said season three wouldn't rely on guest stars, and then hired Idina Menzel to do 10 episodes as Rachel's mother. Based solely on how he talks about Glee, the man is pathological liar. Why would you ever trust anything he says about the show?

The obvious answer to that rhetorical question is that you wouldn't. Which is why it's kinda funny that I'm choosing to trust him. Well, his initial remarks, anyway — the ones he either didn't say, didn't mean or were made up. (Or said by someone impersonating Ryan Murphy. Who knows?)

The bet here is that Michele, Colfer and Monteith are done after season three, regardless of the spin Falchuk spewed at Comic-Con last weekend. It all goes back to the timeline. 11 days went by before anyone backed away from Murphy's remarks; even the actors were forced to comment on their announced departures (and Michele and Colfer did so with grace and aplomb, for what it's worth). If this wasn't true — in the age of Twitter and instantaneous showrunner response — would it have taken so long? Keep in mind that Falchuk blasted an extra in the winter for spoiling the prom king and king reveal on Glee; an extra who, at the time, had negligible Twitter followers, thus making the story a story, instead of the bottled-up missives of some random person on the Internet. The guy who did that is going to wait two weeks before correcting a perceived wrong?

As such: the three Glee leads are done. Falchuk can walk back from Murphy's quotes all he wants, but the cat is out of the bag. As the immortal George W. Bush once said, "Fool me twice... won't get fooled again."