Keke Palmer has revealed in her new memoir that one of her co-stars on the Ryan Murphy series, Scream Queens, made an offensive remark during filming comparing her to Martin Luther King Jr.
The actress detailed the encounter with the white cast member, only referred to by the pseudonym “Brenda,” in her new memoir, “Master of Me: The Secret to Controlling Your Narrative,” according to the L.A. Times.
In the book, Palmer, who appeared alongside Ariana Grande, Emma Roberts, Lea Michele, Billie Lourd, and Abigail Breslin on the Fox series from 2015 to 2017, said she had tried to console “Brenda” during a spat with another co-worker.
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But when Palmer told her that everyone should “have fun and respect each other,” “Brenda” shot back, “Keke, literally, just don’t. Who do you think you are? Martin F— Luther King?”
During the interview with the L.A. Times, Palmer declined to reveal who “Brenda” was. Palmer said, “I’m not no victim. That’s not my storyline, sweetie. I don’t care what her a-- said. If I allow what she said to cripple me, then she would.”
In the book, Palmer also shared an unsettling experience with the show’s creator, Ryan Murphy, who is responsible for projects like Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story and American Horror Story.
Palmer referenced a time when Murphy scheduled a shoot on a day they were supposed to have off, and she was unable to make it due to a prior commitment.
She said that an angry Murphy called her, and said Palmer was unprofessional. “It was kind of like I was in the dean’s office,” she said to the L.A. Times while reflecting. “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.’ ”
Though she apologized, she said she believes that Murphy blacklisted her from appearing in his future projects after the series.
“I’m still not sure Ryan cared, or got it, and that’s okay because he was just centering his business, which isn’t a problem to me,” she wrote. “But what I do know is even if he didn’t care, and even if I never work with him again, he knows that I, too, see myself as a business.”
