Lea Michele Can't Read

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About

Lea Michele Can't Read is a conspiracy theory that actress and Glee star Lea Michele is illiterate. The theory includes claims that the actress learns her lines via audio memorization and in public appearances where she's required to read text aloud, will have the words fed to her. Though started as a joke in 2017, the rumor has persisted for over five years, despite Michele's multiple denials of the theory, and has been the subject of numerous jokes and memes online.

Origin

The conspiracy theory was started by the One More Thing podcast in a 2017 episode, though it is unclear the exact date the episode aired.^[1] During the episode, hosts Jaye Hunt and Robert Ackerman dissect the late Naya Rivera's memoir, Sorry Not Sorry. In the book, Rivera mentions that during her time on Glee, co-star Lea Michele refused to improvise scenes with veteran actor Tim Conway. The hosts joked that perhaps this was because Lea Michele had director Ryan Murphy feeding her her lines because she couldn't read.

Later, the hosts expanded upon the joke by posting a lengthy, tongue-in-cheek video (which has since been scrubbed from the internet) perpetuating the conspiracy theory that Michele couldn't read on Facebook. A key tenet in their theory is that Michele debuted on Broadway at the age of 8 and began her career in show business right after, therefore never had time to get the proper instruction on how to read, and now pays someone to read for her (surviving clip shown below).

The theory accounts for Michele's two published books by noting that the books are mostly photos of Michele, works and recipes. It also notes how images of Michele writing are suspect, citing pictures of book signings where Michele's sharpie is not actually touching the book (shown below, left) and a video that purports to show Michele writing her name, but actually only shows Michele underlining her name (shown below, right).

On March 5th, 2022, TikTok user @kelseylikesthings summarized the now-scrubbed "Lea Michele Is Illiterate" video, gaining over 1.8 million likes (shown below).

Spread

The rumor dogged Michele over the following several years, and she has on multiple occasions, denied, joked about, and bemoaned it. On March 22nd, 2018,^[2] she attempted to deny the theory by insisting she enjoyed reading a tweet about it (shown below).

She also discussed the rumor with Andy Cohen in a video interview later in 2018, joking about the proof laid out by Hunt and Ackerman (shown below). In June of 2022, the New York Post^[3] reported she joked about the theory with some high school theater students.

The rumor lay mostly dormant over the following few years until Michele was cast in Funny Girl on Broadway in July of 2022. On July 10th, Twitter user @freyasilly1234^[7] joked, "lea michele made a deal with the devil so she could be in funny girl on broadway… she’s like ariel but instead of trading her voice she traded the ability to read," gaining over 3,900 retweets and 54,000 likes in two months (shown below).

This appeared to revive the conspiracy. Vice^[1] covered it later that week, noting that a 2020 controversy in which several former Glee castmates accused Michele of bullying on set may have contributed to the public's willingness to believe the theory.

In a New York Times^[4] piece published September 1st, 2022, she called the rumor "sad" and implied there were sexist undertones to the conspiracy. However, her discussion of the rumor actually fueled further jokes implying she couldn't read. Variety^[5] tweeted Michele stated, "I went to ‘Glee’ every single day; I knew my lines every single day" (shown below, left). This, as many pointed out, did not actually constitute a denial of the rumor, and fueled further, tongue-in-cheek speculation that Michele was illiterate. Twitter user @CatieDelaney^[6] called it "hilarious" that Michele didn't confirm she could read in the interview.

In a Streisand-Effect moment, Michele's condemnation of the theory caused jokes about it to spike on social media over the following days. For example, the Nebraska Humane Society^[8] joked that Michele would never know a dog was named after her, gaining over 450 retweets and 11,000 likes in one day (shown below, left). User @Jeremylevick^[9] cracked a joke that gained over 380 retweets and 11,000 likes in one day (shown below, right).