Did you know that people think Lea Michele can’t read? Lea Michele Sarfati, better known by her stage name Lea Michele, is an American actress and singer who was popularly known for her role in Glee.
For years, a meme has circulated stating that the Funny Girl actress cannot read or write. Fans have countered this allegation by asserting that she never read a screenplay herself and had her lines read to her during her six-year tenure on Glee.
The rumors started when Lea Michele made jokes about needing a friend to read her TikTok comments to her, which was then ignited by a Twitter user named @freyabwg.
@leamichele lol ????????????
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The “Lea Michele Can’t Read” meme is believed to have started in a 2017 podcast episode when Jaye Hunt and Robert Ackerman from One More Thing made fun of Michele’s reading abilities.
The hosts of the episode presented a passage from the late Naya Rivera’s memoir Sorry Not Sorry: Dreams, Mistakes, and Growing Up, in which it was stated that Michele refused to improvise on the set of Glee.
A comment that Lea Michele might have memorized her lines because she couldn’t read them sparked a 40-minute search for “evidence” of her illiteracy. Ideas even advanced that she might have missed many school days because she was a child star.
The video traces Lea’s career from those early days through her long-term collaboration with Ryan Murphy, her social media presence, appearances on The Ellen Show, and her allegedly self-written book, mixed with a series of incriminating images of her “pretending to write.” The more thoroughly we explore the theory as a group, the more sense it starts to make.
According to the hosts, Lea memorized the lyrics to her songs while she was a member of Glee by listening to the recorded versions and ignoring the use of lyric sheets. That brings us to the following significant allegation: Glee creator Ryan Murphy knew about the whole thing.
Jaye and Robert assert that Lea’s subsequent work after Glee was on Ryan Murphy’s Scream Queens, where he allegedly fed her the lines as they were filming, making sure no one knew.
Another piece of evidence discovered by the pair that can back up Lea Michele can’t read is that Lea uses aides to create her Instagram captions, has lines given to her, and does not write her signature. Lea Michele’s book is also an additional item to consider.
Following the publication of Brunette Ambition in 2014, Lea launched You: Journal Your Way to Your Best Life in 2015. Both appear to have issues with language. Their pages, however, are chock-full of pictures, workouts, and recipes.
Photographs taken by paparazzi at the signing of the books left a lot to question as to be expected. Lea appears to sign a book in one picture, but her Sharpie is nowhere near the page. Another image shows Lea signing a wall, but all she is doing is underlining her name, which is already on the wall.
@kelseylikesthings Reply to @kelseylikesthings #greenscreen #glee #leamichele #nayarivera #popculture #conspirancytheory #fyp #foryou #xyzcba ♬ Epic Music(842228) – Pavel
Due to many theories of Lea Michele being illiterate, fans continued to discuss the possibility of this allegation being true. When Lea’s casting for the Funny Girl role, which she has been striving for her entire career, was revealed, Twitter started revisiting some of the most infamous Lea horror stories.
She was the target of accusations of racism and bullying by her former Glee co-star Samantha Ware. Amber Riley and Heather Morris also supported the allegations that she is a bully.
Lea Michele has denied the rumors that she couldn’t read a couple of times. There was even one time she commented back on a Twitter post about her being illiterate, and another time she joked about these rumors while performing in a high school in 2022. Despite all the efforts to clear her name and the integrity of her reading capability, Lea still finds herself in the middle of all these conspiracy theories.
There was also one time when Lea Michele expressed that she was ‘sad’ about how the rumors persisted even though she had already denied it. The actress even claimed that these pointless accusations continue to fire up because she is a ‘woman.’
In an interview, she stated, “I think often if I were a man, a lot of this wouldn’t be the case,” seemingly pointing out that the comments thrown at her is sexist.
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There is no telling whether these theories revolving around Lea Michele’s reading ability are anywhere close to reality. Still, with all the evidence netizens discover, this will continue to haunt the Glee star. Additionally, as Lea vaguely answers questions about his literacy, conspiracy theorists will never let go of the possibility that she is illiterate.
Being famous has its cons. After Lea’s successful Glee performance, Lea Michele became a hot topic of good and bad news. Being illiterate, in particular, has stuck to her like a leech ever since it was announced to the public.
The rumors about Lea Michele’s ability to read had been going on for years, and the actress already learned to ride that trend. No one knows the truth behind these theories and insane conspiracies, but one can’t deny that it is entertaining.
We never know when these rumors end, but while it’s still a considerable debate to many, there will surely be more to come to this seemingly never-ending ‘Lea Michele can’t read and is Illiterate’ storyline.
