Keke Palmer has accused a ‘Scream Queens’ co-star of making a racist remark on set.
Keke Palmer has opened up about an alleged racist comment made on set
The 31-year-old actress has reflected on her time on Ryan Murphy‘s horror comedy show, and claimed an unnamed white co-star – referred to only under the pseudonym ‘Brenda’ – made an offensive remark.
Writing in her upcoming memoir ‘Master of Me: The Secret to Controlling Your Narrative’, Keke claimed she tried to calm ‘Brenda’ down during a row with another work, and suggested everyone should “have fun and respect each other”.
She alleged that ‘Brenda’ replied: “Keke, literally, just don’t. Who do you think you are? Martin f****** Luther King?”
Speaking to the Los Angeles Times newspaper, Keke said: “It was such a weighted thing that she said, but I didn’t allow that weight to be projected on me, because I know who I am.”
The ‘Nope’ star noted she hasn’t named the person in question in order to take the power from the words, and not shine the spotlight on ‘Brenda’.
She added: “I’m not no victim. That’s not my storyline, sweetie. I don’t care what her ass said. If I allow what she said to cripple me, then she would.”
Keke played Zayday Williams on two seasons of the show in 2015 and 2016.
Elsewhere in the interview, she recalled missing a day’s work because of a scheduling issue, having booked another business obligation in for what was originally meant to be a day off before being told she was needed on set.
She decided to stick to the business commitment, which left show creator Ryan furious as he “ripped” into her on the phone and branded her unprofessional.
She said: “It was kind of like I was in the dean’s office.
“He was like, ‘I’ve never seen you behave like this. I can’t believe that you, out of all people, would do something like this.’ ”
She apologised for the situation and thought things had cooled over, although days later a co-star insisted the situation was “bad”, which Keke thought was them “trying to make me scared or something”.