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Kevin McHale knows exactly how Lea Michele should address the rumors she’s illiterate.
The recent Celebrity Drag Race contestant said his former Glee costar should participate in RuPaul’s Drag Race “Reading Is Fundamental” challenge to prove she can read once and for all — or not.
McHale, 34, think Michele, 36, should intercut footage of herself on TikTok with clips from the show’s signature game, in which the Drag Race queens ‘read’ each other with good-natured insults.
“I hope she does a TikTok with that. It would be great if someone edited her into a Reading challenge on Drag Race,” McHale, known as Chic-Li-Fay on Drag Race, told Entertainment Weekly. “In all seriousness, I do think she’d be great. Meme-wise, I think they need to put her in one of those scenes, and then just have crickets playing. Maybe she should do it, she seems like she’s leaning into it.”
RELATED: Lea Michele Mocks Conspiracy Theory She Can’t Read in a New TikTok
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For years, Michele has been subject to an Internet rumor that claims she can’t read or write. The theory has taken on a life of its own thanks to TikTok users, who’ve dug into Michele’s past to show “evidence” she’s been caught pretending to read.
Even Michele addressed the speculation on her TikTok account. “Calling Jonathan [Groff] to read me the comments on my first TikTok,” Michele captioned a video of herself after launching her own account on the video platform.
RELATED: Is Lea Michele Secretly Illiterate? The Actress Sets the Record Straight on Twitter
While Michele is now in on the joke — at least on TikTok — she spoke about the rumors at the start of September. “I went to Glee every single day; I knew my lines every single day,” she told The New York Times. “And then there’s a rumor online that I can’t read or write? It’s sad. It really is.”
Michele added, “I think often if I were a man, a lot of this wouldn’t be the case.”
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The Funny Girl actress also replied to a fan tweet about the conspiracy, saying “Loved READING this tweet and wanted to WRITE you back,” back in March 2018 when the joke first surfaced.
