Cory Monteith's Emmy Tribute: Jane Lynch Honors Her "Gifted" and "Wonderful" Glee Costar

Glee star Jane Lynch said late actor had a "beautiful soul"

By Jenna Mullins Sep 23, 2013 1:34 AMTags
Emmy Awards Show, Jane LynchKevin Winter/Getty Images

Among all the tearful acceptance speeches and happy cries of surprise from the Emmy winners was a solemn moment for Glee star Cory Monteith, who died tragically this summer.

Despite some people having misgivings about Monteith being singled out during the In Memoriam tribute, he was indeed honored tonight at the Primetime Emmy Awards by someone who worked closely with him on the Fox series: Jane Lynch.

Lynch took the stage to give a moving speech dedicated to the 31-year-old actor, calling Monteith a "gifted and wonderful young man" who was "worthy" of the all the love he received from fans.

Read her kind words for Cory below:

"It is remarkable and perhaps a little curious how television shows become like families. This summer, on our show Glee, we suffered a painful death in our family.

"Cory Monteith played Finn Hudson, a star quarterback turned wide-eyed, heartfelt glee singer. And from the first time you saw Cory, he had a star quality and a genuine sweetness that made it impossible not to fall in love with him. And millions did fall in love with Cory.

"And I am here to say that all that warmth and that charm, that openhearted quality that we loved in Cory was no act. Cory was a beautiful soul. He was not perfect, which many of us here tonight can relate to. His death is a tragic reminder of the rapacious, senseless destruction that's brought on by addiction.

"Tonight we remember Cory for all he was and mourn the loss of all he could have been. To a generation that loved Cory so, please know: this gifted and wonderful young man was worthy of your love. And if you were lucky enough to know Cory as we did and witness firsthand Cory's goofy, breezy sense of humor, his natural instinct for inclusiveness, and his unbridled sense of generosity day in and day out, I promise, you'd have loved him even more."

Earlier this week, Emmys executive producer Ken Ehrlich called the decision to include 31-year-old Monteith a "personal choice".

"Cory's appeal was to maybe a little different generation than some of the others we're honoring. We felt it needed to be represented, that at 31, he passed away under very tragic circumstances. And that it was important to be responsive to younger viewers, to whom Cory Monteith meant as much as perhaps these other four individuals meant to their own generations," he said. "No matter what we do, there will be people who feel we could have made other options, and done other things."

What did you think of Cory's spotlight feature during the In Memoriam segment?