Kevin McHale on Glee's Wheelchair Controversy, His Dream TV Role and Celebrity Gleeks

Some Glee fans were confused to see you perform at the White House show in your character's wheelchair. Was that because you were sticking closely to the dance routines used on the show?

We were all in our costumes from the show so we were all basically in character. And if you stay in character, then Artie is in a wheelchair.

Are you going to be performing in the wheelchair on tour too?

I believe so. We start rehearsals next week. From my understanding, I am going to be in the wheelchair because that's my character.

You've already had some major touring experience from your boy band days. How long were you in NLT?

I was in the boy band for about five years but because we were so young, I didn't really do anything until I was about 17 or 18. We had a few singles out. We did OK. Then one of the guys left the group and wanted to go solo which kind of screwed all of us over. It worked out better for me though because that is when the Glee audition came about.

Do you totally relate to where Justin Bieber is coming from, with all of those screaming and crying girls in the audience?

[Laughs] Maybe on a much, much smaller scale.

Does your boy band history make you the subject of any ridicule on set?

It's referenced every now and then, but I wasn't the only one. Matt was in a boy band too. We have all done things that we are a little ashamed of.

Your character has a major storyline coming up [in tonight's episode, "Dream On"]. Can you talk about Artie's arc in the last few episodes of the season?

There's a lot more Artie and Tina but less of the whole "I like you and you like me" kind of thing. We really get to see how he deals with his physical disability each day -- how he gets by emotionally. And we get to see a lot more of Artie and Tina's relationship as opposed to how they fit into the entire glee club.

Have you gotten feedback from any other actors or musicians who are fans of the show?

When Mark did "Sweet Caroline," Neil Diamond tweeted about it. That was really cool. Oh, I saw J.K. Rowling -- I am a Harry Potter geek, and I kind of freaked out and I walked up to her and and she said, "You look familiar." I was like, "Oh my gosh, she knows who we are!" And that kind of thing. I still can't believe that people know who we are. We were at the Golden Globes and Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts and Julianne Moore all said they
were fans of the show -- that was just the most insane thing ever.

What did Julia Roberts say about it?

She had just finished Eat, Pray, Love with Ryan, and Ryan had been showing her the episodes. She was super nice and she actually came by set the other day -- she is doing a movie with Tom Hanks on the same lot as us and she was incredibly, incredibly sweet to us.

You use "we" and "us" a lot to describe this whole Glee experience rather than "I." It must be especially fulfilling to be sharing this ride with your friends.

Definitely, that's the best part. We are going through this together. At the Golden Globes, we couldn't believe it. We were all sitting at the table, looking around at all of these people we admired and freaking out together.

[Lead Photo by George Napolitano/Getty Images]

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