July 15, 2013

On Saturday, Glee star Cory Monteith — who played main character Finn Hudson on the Fox musical dramedy — was found dead of an apparent drug overdose in his Vancouver hotel room. He was 31 years old.

The news of Monteith's sudden death has resulted in an outpouring of grief over the past two days from the show's cast, creative team, and devoted fan base. A representative for Monteith's co-star and girlfriend, Lea Michele, released a brief statement requesting that everyone "kindly respect Lea's privacy during this devastating time." But while Michele grieves in private, plenty of her fellow cast members have opted to offer public tributes to the deceased star. Here, read how the cast of Glee has paid tribute to Cory Monteith:

1. Matthew Morrison dedicates a performance of the song "What I Did for Love" to Monteith:
At a performance of his stage show Up Close and Personal With Matthew Morrison at 54 Below in New York City, Morrison — who plays Glee Club director Mr. Shuester on the show — dedicated the song "What I Did for Love" to Monteith. According to a source at Us Weekly, Morrison took the stage and said, "We lost a great young man too soon," adding that Monteith was " a beautiful person" before launching into the song. "What I Did for Love" was also performed by Lea Michele in Glee's second season premiere:

2. In a series of tweets on the official @GLEEonFOX Twitter account, the show's executive producers reacted to Monteith's death:

3. Many of Glee's cast members also took to Twitter to express their grief and pay tribute to Monteith:

Mark Salling (Noah "Puck" Puckerman):

Dot Marie Jones (Shannon Beiste):

Kristin Chenoweth (April Rhodes):

Lauren Potter (Becky Jackson):

Iqbal Theba (Principal Figgins):

Harry Shum Jr. (Mike Chang):

Josh Sussman (Jacob Ben Israel):

Cheyenne Jackson (Dustin Goolsby):

Damian McGinty (Rory Flanagan):

According to Fox News, Glee's creative team hasn't decided how Monteith's character will be written out of the series. Glee's fifth season is currently scheduled to begin production in late July or early August, and the show has already been renewed for a sixth season.