Amanda Seales is weighing on the controversy surrounding Keke Palmer executive producing a series about an Asian woman attending an HBCU (Historically Black College and University).
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Keke Palmer Addresses Backlash After Executive Producing A Series About An Asian Woman Attending An HBCU
On October 21, Keke Palmer’s KeyTV Network, which she founded in 2021, announced its upcoming series, ‘Southern Fried Rice.’ The network described the show as a “new coming-of-age dramedy [Drama-Comedy] set at a fictional HBCU.”
KeyTV Network’s YouTube continued to detail of the plot. It read, “A Korean-American girl, raised from birth by Southern Black parents, struggles to defend and redefine her identity after being accepted into a popular HBCU.
While posting the trailer, the network announced that the double-episode premiere would drop on Wednesday (October 22).
At the time of publishing, the trailer boasted 46,000 views on YouTube and the first episode boasts 55,000 views, and the second with 31,000. Seven episodes have since been released on the KeyTV Network YouTube page, with a combined 162,000 views.
Before the views, Palmer and her network faced tons of criticism over the new show’s plot. Subsequently, Palmer boldly defended her choice to executive produce and distribute such a show. While taking to social media on October 22, she posted a lengthy message with a video. In her tweet, she wrote:
“As a professional tap dancer and court jester for most of my life 🙂 NOT COMPLAINING! I can tell you that it’s imperative people of color have jobs outside of just being the talent or the player on the team. It’s my mission with KeyTV to help fund and support the creators of color behind the scenes, giving them a chance to tell their own story.
The camera operators, costumer designers, writers, directors, prop masters and the list goes on. There is a common complaint about there not being a lot of Black people in the hair and makeup union. The lack of Black creators in high positions is a big source of this. It’s KeyTV’s mission to democratize the industry and support Black people in business positions that don’t always include us performing. There’s nothing wrong with that, but there is so much more we can do and have to offer!
Nakia Stephens is one of our KeyMaker’s, along with Chelsea Sanders, Lenoria Addison, Lawrence Murray, Moses Alexander, Lex King, Antwan Lawshe, Rosero and Eric McCoy, Loreal Palmer, Frank Wimberly, and so many more! Check out their work and our KeyMaker’s series to learn more about them!”
In her video, Palmer explained:
“Hey, you guys, I don’t want to take up too much of your time, but I wanted to chop it up real quick about this series called ‘Southern Fried Rice; that’s premiering on KeyTV that is receiving some controversial feedback.
Now, ‘Southern Fried Rice’ was created by Nakia Stephens. And while I can’t speak to her inspiration for the show, I can speak to her dedication as a creative. I mean, Nakia has written, show ran, and produced four shows alongside her Damn Right Originals team with KeyTV. And KeyTV has proudly invested over a half a million dollars on her creations. And I say that because it’s not easy to obtain that kind of investment.
At KeyTV, this is the ethos of the company. It’s a network, not just because it has stars and shows or has talent, but because it’s about the people who create the shows and connecting them. I mean, we have Lex King, a Black queer creator that made the short film, ‘Keep Me In Mind.’ We have Antwan Lawshe, who created, ‘The Horror Story Blue Forest.’ We have ‘Cousin M,’ by a father and son duo, Rosero and Eric McCoy. Chelsea Sanders, who created ‘Make It Make Sense,’ and ‘Unlabeled‘ by Lawrence Murray. Chelsea also did ‘Dear Keke.’
Look, what you like is subjective, but the support of Black creatives is not. And it’s a task that KeyTV takes on with pride, because if you want to be a creative, you have to be able to create. And that takes money. And it’s KeyTV’s mission to find the funds for you to be in practice, for you to experience trial and error, and to take your projects off the page and get more than one chance to do it in action.
So, whether you like it all or some or none, I say give these creatives a chance to grow as we continue to grow in supporting them. So, God bless you guys. And like I said, Nakia has ‘Southern Fried Rice,’ that’s coming out most recently, but she has ‘Nepotista,’ ‘Heaux & Tell,’ and ‘Psychology of F**kboys.’ That’s also some great stuff for you to check out. Take care. Thanks for listening. Holla at your girl.”
Amanda Seales Reacts To Keke Palmer Executive Producing Series About An Asian Woman Attending An HBCU
Weighing on Keke Palmer executive producing a series about an Asian woman attending an HBCU, is Amanda Seales. Taking to a recent Instagram Live, she said:
‘”The Black community needs a leader like me?’ No. What is the Black community? No, I don’t want to lead the Black community. Nope. I’m interested in community that is about collective liberation. That’s what I’m about. Collective liberation for all.
You know, the Black Panthers, like they had a 10 point program. And within that 10 point program, I believe the first one was power to the people—all power to all people. All power to all people. So, when we say Black community, that’s not. That’s just like at this point, that’s just a racial labeling. Because we don’t we don’t even have a shared ethos attached to our Blackness.
So, you know, like, that’s how you end up with that movie that Keke Palmer is executive producing about the Asian girl at HBCU. Like, what are we talking about? Why is that a movie that needs to be made? And it’s not even shade because I can promise you, like, even if you have an idea, like, there should be enough people around you that’ll tell you, like, ‘Hold on now. Hold on now.’
You know, I get so frustrated when I see Black folks—Black culture represented in such a surface fashion, right? Like, just based on fashion and how people are laying their baby hairs and dances. You know, so it’s become like a cultural clothing, so to speak, and with that, you can’t have a community based on that. That just means you have a club.”
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