Shola Lee
Jameela Jamil has seemingly responded to people joking that Lea Michele can't read.
If you've been on the internet at all this week, you've probably seen people joking that the Glee star can't read.
The meme started back in 2017 during an episode of the One More Time podcast, which saw hosts Jaye Hunt and Robert Ackerman present 'evidence' to suggest Michele is illiterate.
Advert
During the podcast, the hosts looked into an excerpt from Michele's co-star, Naya Rivera's, book Sorry Not Sorry: Dreams, Mistakes, and Growing Up.
In the book, the late Rivera recounts when comedy actor Tim Conway joined the cast of Glee and, naturally, wanted to improvise. However, Michele refused, which formed part of the hosts' slide show of evidence presenting their theory that the star is illiterate.
Now, as Michele is set to star in Funny Girl on Broadway tomorrow (6 September), she finally put the rumours to bed.
Speaking to The New York Times, Michele said: "I went to Glee every single day; I knew my lines every single day. And then there’s a rumour online that I can’t read or write?
"It’s sad. It really is. I think if I were a man, a lot of this wouldn’t be the case."
The star isn't the only one to have addressed the rumours, because Jamil took to Instagram to seemingly respond to the jokes.
In a post shared yesterday (4 September), Jamil wrote: "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.
"An elitist, ableist bore."
She went on to explain in the caption of her post: "Don't let the debris of your bullets meant for some... hit those you weren't aiming at. Some people can't read because of disability, learning disabilities, some can't because of a lack of access to education.
"Your words and actions also affect them. If you're so f***ing smart, find a smarter way to insult the people you think are bad."
And people couldn't agree more, with one Instagram user chiming in to say: "Smarter people would find a better way to ensure access to education and education assistance rather than s better insult but then they weren't that smart to begin with were they."
While another wrote: "THIS!!! What YOU SAY, will ALWAYS say more about who you are as person than literally anything else. Awareness people."