Lea Michele addresses 'can't read' rumours on Jake Shane's podcast, says Ryan Murphy was the one who first told her

Lea Michele has addressed the persistent online rumour claiming she cannot read, revealing that it was Glee creator Ryan Murphy who first brought the viral meme to her attention.

Appearing on the Therapuss podcast with Jake Shane, Michele shared that Murphy once called her directly to ask if she had seen what was circulating.

“Ryan called me and was like, ‘Have you heard this rumour?’ And I was like, ‘No, what’s going on!’” she said on the podcast.

The rumour originated in 2017 on the One More Thing podcast, where hosts Jaye Hunt and Robert Ackerman jokingly dissected anecdotes from Naya Rivera’s memoir Sorry Not Sorry. Rivera had written that Michele avoided improvisation on the Glee set. The hosts speculated that Michele memorised scripts due to an inability to read, and the theory gained unexpected traction online.

Michele previously refuted the rumour during a 2018 appearance on Watch What Happens Live, explaining, “They said that Ryan Murphy would have to read the lines to me. Ryan called me and was like, ‘Do people think I have the time in my life to come do this?’”

In a 2022 interview with The New York Times, Michele called the rumour “sad” and suggested that the scrutiny might not have existed if she were a man.

Although initially frustrated, the Funny Girl star has since responded with humour. 

While the rumour has been widely debunked, Michele’s decision to laugh along has helped reframe the conversation around it.