At this point, if you’ve been on the internet regularly, you’ve probably come across some form of the “Lea Michele can’t read” meme.
As BuzzFeed News pointed out earlier this week, the meme has origins in a 2017 episode of the pop culture-focused podcast One More Thing — and it’s more or less remained on the web ever since.
Lea already addressed the meme-slash-rumor earlier this week, and now Jameela Jamil is joining in to defend her as well.
The She-Hulk: Attorney at Law actor recently took to Instagram to address the fact that she sees “a lot of people claiming a certain actress can’t read…and then laughing at her.”
“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.”
“It’s embarrassing for you, not them.”
“Don’t let the debris of your bullets meant for some… hit those you weren’t aiming at,” she added in the caption.
“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 fucking smart, find a smarter way to insult the people you think are bad. 🤘🏽”
It should be noted that Jameela not only avoided mentioning Lea by name, but pretty much sidestepped defending her, instead gesturing towards some of the reasons why people have turned on Lea to begin with.
Her general position seems to be that, if you’re making fun of someone for not being able to read, you’re likely to hurt others who might struggle with being able to read — and, honestly, that’s more than fair.
You can read more about what Lea had to say about the meme here.
