Emma Roberts has awkward response when she's asked if it's true Lea Michele can't read

Emma Roberts was left awkwardly trying to move on from the conversation after being asked about the viral rumour that Glee star Lea Michele can't read.

Michele has for years been subject to the random allegation that she never learned to read, and over time has both poked fun and criticised the claims that continue to circulate online.

It all began in 2017, but Andy Cohen officially brought it into the new year when he mentioned the conspiracy during his show Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen.

Of all the rumours to start about celebrities, this has to be one of the most bizarre.

The claim about Michele first emerged on the One More Thing podcast when hosts Jaye Hunt and Robert Ackerman were discussing an anecdote in Naya Rivera’s memoir which claimed Michele refused to improvise scenes.

The hosts speculated that Michele had only ever memorised lines that had been read to her from the script because she couldn't read, and despite their later insistence that it was all a joke, it had already started to snowball.

The following years brought with them memes, tweets and alleged 'evidence' of Michele's illiteracy, so Cohen sought to get to the bottom of things as he welcomed Roberts, who starred alongside Michele on Scream Queens, on to his show.

During her appearance, Roberts was asked about the 'biggest misconception people have' about Michele.

Before she could answer, however, Cohen jumped in to say: "That she can't read, right?"

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Roberts was caught off guard by the response and was left laughing as she tried to come up with a response, though she didn't exactly dismiss the rumour altogether.

Instead, she hesitated awkwardly as she responded: "Well, I mean… We’ve not been in a book club together."

Modern Family star Julie Bowen then shared her thoughts on the matter as she questioned why reading is 'so important', but Roberts seemed desperate to move on to a new topic as she called out: "Guys! No!"

Michele has previously played in to the rumours by posting a TikTok of herself calling her friend and fellow actor Jonathan Groff to ask him to read her the comments on her TikTok page, though she's also slammed the rumour as 'sad'.

In an interview with The New York Times last year, she added: "I think often if I were a man, a lot of this wouldn’t be the case.”

After Roberts was asked to comment on the claim, viewers were quick to pick up on the fact that the American Horror Story star didn't outright deny it, with one writing: "The way they just dodge the question instead of saying yes or no…"