Following the July 13 death of Cory Monteith, the actor's "Glee" co-stars have gathered to pay tribute to their late friend.
"Today, Ryan Murphy and Lea Michele gathered the cast, crew and producers of 'Glee,' along with colleagues from the network and studio, to share memories and music in an emotional celebration of the life of Cory Monteith," 20th Century Fox said in a statement Thursday. "We thank the public for their continued outpouring of love and support as we grieve our friend and colleague during this difficult time."
'It was beautiful," "Glee" star Jane Lynch told TMZ of the memorial. "And still really sad, but it was beautiful. It was nice to all be together again."
After the gathering, the cast was spotted grabbing lunch at a West Hollywood restaurant. Dianna Agron, Jenna Ushkowitz, Darren Criss, Kevin McHale and Harry Shum Jr. were all in attendance.
See photos here.
Absent from the luncheon was Chris Colfer, who recently broke his silence about Monteith's death.
"I'll never forget all the laughs we shared or the faces we made after awkward interview questions," he wrote on Instagram. "Love and miss you, buddy."
Monteith's girlfriend, fellow "Glee" actress Lea Michele, has yet to personally release a statement, but Murphy says the starlet has remained strong through the tragic ordeal.
"She's handled this with so much humanity and grace and she's also handled this in a way where she's trying to look out for 500 other people affected by him who have mortgages to pay and families to feed," he told E! News, noting that she is also still showing commitment to the show.
"If Lea had said to me, 'I could never do this again and I don't want to do this again,' you know, she is sort of the show, so what do you do? And I would've, out of respect to her as a person, said 'OK,' but that's not how Lea operates; that's not how she feels," he said. "Nothing has been done and will be done in terms of any of the material without Lea blessing it and making sure it's OK with her -- and she has been."
After a short delay, the fifth season of "Glee" is set to start production early next month.
