Keke Palmer addresses rumor about Lea Michele’s reading skills
Keke Palmer is speaking out against the popular online theory claiming that her former co-star Lea Michele cannot read.
The actress discussed the rumors about her “Scream Queens” co-star’s alleged illiteracy while promoting her newly released memoir, “Master of Me,” during a Tuesday interview on “The Toast” podcast.
Palmer expressed her surprise when podcast hosts Jackie Oshry Weinreb and Claudia Oshry brought up the rumor, saying she couldn’t believe it existed.
“Wow, that’s wild. Why do people create these stories?” asked the host of “Password.”
The podcast hosts then playfully asked Palmer if she had ever seen Michele reading on set. Palmer acknowledged that she hadn’t witnessed Michele reading, but added, “You don’t see me reading books on set either!”
“I know she can read, you guys,” Palmer asserted. “I’ve never seen her do it, but she has to be able to! You all know that girl can read.”
This speculation began when podcasters Jaye Hunt and Robert Ackerman went live on Facebook in 2017 and presented a slideshow they claimed supported the theory that Michele was illiterate.
On the “DirtCast” podcast in 2018, Hunt and Ackerman explained that their theory stemmed from a story in late “Glee” star Naya Rivera’s memoir, “Sorry Not Sorry.” The anecdote described Michele’s alleged reluctance to improvise during scenes with actor Tim Conway.
Michele has commented on the rumor several times over the years, including in 2018 when a fan suggested she must be “laughing her head off” at the conspiracy.
“I loved READING this tweet and wanted to WRITE you back,” Michele wrote in a now-deleted tweet, as reported by People and Buzzfeed. “I was literally laughing out loud at all of this!”
That same year, during an appearance on “Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen,” Michele discussed the “45-minute-long video” that fueled the rumor. The video included claims that director Ryan Murphy reads her lines for her.
“Ryan called me, and he’s like, ‘Do people really think I have the time to do this?'” she remarked. “I got accepted to NYU. It’s all so strange.”
Despite the persistent rumors, she told The New York Times in 2022: “I showed up to ‘Glee’ every single day; I knew my lines every single day. And then there’s this online rumor that I can’t read or write? It’s unfortunate. It truly is. I often think if I were a man, maybe this wouldn’t even be an issue.”