Actor Keke Palmer has apparently just learned about the long-running conspiracy theory that her former “Scream Queens” co-star Lea Michele can’t read. After hearing about the rumor’s spread on Tuesday’s episode of “The Toast,” Palmer reacted with shock.
“Damn, that’s crazy,” she bluntly stated on the podcast. “Why do people do this stuff?”
The theory first emerged in 2017 when “One More Thing” podcast hosts Jaye Hunt and Robert Ackerman discussed the memoir of actor Naya Rivera, who wrote that Michele seemed unwilling to improvise lines on the TV show “Glee.” Hunt and Ackerman joked that this may have been due to illiteracy, with the idea’s spread aided by footage of Michele supposedly struggling to read off names at award shows, among other things.
“The Toast” host Claudia Oshry told Palmer that some people believe Ryan Murphy, one of the creators of “Scream Queens” and “Glee,” has repeatedly hired Michele “because he knows her secret,” and that he would read Michele’s lines to her so she could memorize them.
When asked if she’d ever seen Michele read a book on set, Palmer hinted that she hadn’t — but noted that the same could be said of herself.
“I know that she can read, y’all!” Palmer said. “I ain’t never seen her reading, but I know that she can read. She’s got to!”
Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images
Michele has reacted to the theory numerous times over the years with hilarious social media posts. But she has also tried to quash it and suggested that it’s underpinned by sexism.
“I went to ‘Glee’ every single day; I knew my lines every single day,” she told The New York Times in 2022. “And then there’s a rumor online that I can’t read or write? It’s sad. It really is. I think often if I were a man, a lot of this wouldn’t be the case.”
And while her former “Scream Queens” co-star Emma Roberts made light of the theory last year — saying, “Well, I mean, we’ve not been in a book club together!” — others don’t seem to find it funny.
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“Whatever your issue with someone, and I don’t know this woman, or anything about her, but laughing at the idea of *anyone* not being able to read makes YOU look like a prick,” actor Jameela Jamil wrote on social media in 2022, apparently referring to Michele. “An elitist, ableist bore.”
She added, “It’s embarrassing for you, not them.”