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American actress and singer, Lea Michele appeared on the May 8, 2025 episode of The Therapuss with Jake Shane podcast to address the rumors about her inability to read. During her conversation with podcast host Jake Shane, Michele shared the moment when she first encountered this online myth.
"What was trending online more was 'Lea Michele can't read. And Ryan Murphy called me - and he was like ‘Have you heard this rumour?’ And I was like No- what’s going on…", Michele said.
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On May 8, 2025, X user Pop Crave shared a clip from the aforementioned episode featuring this part of the conversation. Towards the end of the clip, Michele lunged across the table toward host Shane’s notes and seized the papers from his hands, to read them.
"Teaser of Lea Michele proving she can read on Jake Shane’s ‘Therapuss’ podcast out tonight," Pop Crave captioned the video clip.
Many netizens reacted to this interview clip of Lea Michele attempting to diffuse the long-standing rumor that she can’t read. Interestingly, the clip shared by Pop Crave, ended just before Michele could read anything from the paper. Noticing this detail, one netizen commented that the edit seemed intentional:
"The way it cut before she actually reads any of it," the user commented.
Some netizens speculated that the rumor might be true, pointing out the fact that it had been circulating for years, yet Michele claimed to have only recently heard about it.
"People have been saying that she couldn’t read for YEARS and the fact that she’s saying that she just heard about it proves that she can’t read," one X user wrote.
"She’s using an earpiece with someone dictating what’s on the paper," another netizen remarked.
"Nawh she practiced her lines beforehand,” one netizen commented," another X user commented.
Some online users defended Michele, arguing that she was using the podcast platform to put the rumors to rest.
"Looks like Lea’s ready to put the rumors to rest," one X user remarked.
"Oh she’s TIRED,” another X user added.
"Having to PROVE you can read. America is so deep in the trenches lmaooo but this is very, very funny. At least she’s a good sport about it," another X user observed.
Keke Palmer addresses Lea Michele’s rumor about her inability to read, says "She can read"
Keke Palmer, who had previously worked alongside Lea Michele in the 2015 horror-comedy series Scream Queens, also addressed the long-standing internet conspiracy theory claiming that Lea Michele is illiterate. During an appearance on The Toast podcast on November 19, 2024, while promoting her new memoir Master of Me, Palmer stated that the existing rumor was fake.
When podcast hosts Jackie Oshry Weinreb and Claudia Oshry asked Palmer about her opinion on the rumor, she expressed disbelief.
"Damn, that’s crazy. Why do people do this stuff?" she said.
When asked if she had ever seen Michele read on set, Palmer replied candidly that she hadn’t — but that didn’t mean anything.
"I mean don’t nobody see me reading a book on set. Y’all know that girl can read," she replied.
Palmer continued to defend her former co-star, stating:
"I know that she can read, y’all. I ain’t never seen her reading, but I know that she can read. She’s got to!"
As per a USA Today article dated November 22, 2024, the rumor about Lea Michele originated from a satirical 2017 Facebook Live video by podcasters Jaye Hunt and Robert Ackerman. In the video, the duo presented a humorous slideshow that claimed to prove Michele couldn’t read or write. The unsupported claims eventually gained unexpected traction online.
As per the report, in a 2018 episode of their DirtCast podcast, Hunt and Ackerman reiterated their claim about Michele and explained that their theory stemmed partly from an anecdote in the late Glee star Naya Rivera’s memoir Sorry Not Sorry, where Michele allegedly refused to improvise scenes with actor Tim Conway during the show’s run.
Lea Michele is currently busy with her eight-city concert tour called 'Straight From Carnegie Hall', which began in March 2025. The tour features songs from her time on Glee, in the Broadway revival of Funny Girl, Les Misérables, and more.
