Keke Palmer once held out hope that she would be a familiar face within Ryan Murphy's television universe, popping up in his projects the same way Emma Roberts, Sarah Paulson, Evan Peters, and Darren Criss have over the years.
But after Murphy allegedly “ripped” into Palmer and called her unprofessional while she was co-starring in Scream Queens — Murphy's short-lived satirical slasher series — Palmer isn't so sure that's an option for her anymore, but she's okay with that.
The admission was made in Palmer's new book, Master of Me: The Secret to Controlling Your Narrative. The part-memoir, part-self-help book charts the actress' two-decade career in Hollywood, detailing both her successes and mistakes made along the way. Most importantly, Palmer emphasizes how she has taken charge of her own story and learned how to stand up for herself.
In an example, Palmer writes about her time on Murphy's show, starring Emma Roberts, Glen Powell, Ariana Grande, Lea Michele, Jamie Lee Curtis, among others. Juggling a busy working schedule, Palmer says she arranged to use one of her off days from filming to complete another business obligation. However, Palmer says she ended up being needed on set when she was supposed to be off. She ultimately decided to honor the obligation that she had already committed to, reporting earning her an angry phone call from Murphy.
“It was kind of like I was in the dean's office,” Palmer tells Los Angeles Times columnist Amy Kaufman in an interview. “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.'”
Apologizing, Palmer said she believed the matter was smoothed over, until one of her co-stars reworked the issue, saying the incident was “bad” and tried “to make me scared or something, which was a little irritating,” Palmer says.
Palmer hasn't starred in a Murphy project since. “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 for me,” Palmer writes in her book. “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.”
The entire experience of filming the two-season show didn't come off as particularly great for Palmer, who also highlighted another incident while filming. A white actor — who Palmer nicknamed “Brenda” in the book — allegedly made a racist remark towards Palmer on set.
Palmer had been trying to calmly smooth over a dispute, when Brenda allegedly asked Palmer, “Who do you think you are? Martin fucking Luther King?”
“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,” Palmer said in her interview. “I'm not a 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.”
