Keke Palmer Recalls His Tumultuous Experience Working on ‘Scream Queens’

In his upcoming memoir, “Master of Me: The Secret to Controlling the Narrative” Keke Palmer reflects on his journey to understanding his price in each his personal and skilled life. During an interview with Los Angeles TimesPalmer talked about how the book covers a wide range of topics, including her experiences on the set of Fox’s “Scream Queens.”

Palmer played Zayday Williams on the horror comedy series for 2 seasons. During her time on the show, the actress recalls a racist encounter on set with an anonymous white star, whom she calls “Brenda” within the book. In an try to calm down Brenda after the clash along with her colleague, Palmer reportedly suggested everyone “have fun and respect each other,” to which Brenda allegedly replied, “Keke, literally, just don’t do it. Who do you’re thinking that you might be? Martin F. Luther King?”

“It was a very important thing that she said, but I didn’t let that burden be put on me because I know who I am,” Palmer told the newspaper, reflecting on the event. “I’m no victim. That’s not my story, honey. I do not care what her ass said. If I let what she said cripple me, it should.

Unfortunately, this wasn’t the one negative encounter Palmer encountered while working on “Scream Queens.” In her memoir, she also describes an instance where she needed to miss filming because of a scheduling error, which led to a really indignant phone call with the series’ co-creator and director, Ryan Murphy.

“I felt like I was in the dean’s office,” she said, adding that Murphy allegedly “pissed” her off by asking for her absence. “He said, ‘I’ve never seen you act like that.’ I can not imagine you, of all people, would do something like that.

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The longtime star then remembers receiving a shooting schedule and scheduling one other business meeting on her time off. But when the day got here, the production notified her that she was indeed needed on set, and the star decided to honor her earlier commitment. After apologizing for her absence, Palmer thought she and Murphy had gone their separate ways until she spoke to a different unnamed star.

“I said, ‘Ryan talked to me and I think he’s fine, everything’s fine,’ and she said, ‘It’s bad,’ trying to scare me or something, which was kind of irritating,” she explained.

While the star hoped to form a long-term relationship with Murphy that may lead to future roles like other industry stars, Palmer felt it was more necessary to arise for herself.

“I’m still not sure Ryan cared or understood it, but that’s okay because he just focused on his business, which is not a problem for me,” she wrote within the book. “But I know that even if he didn’t care, and even if I never work with him again, he knows that I see myself as a company, too.”