Keke Palmer Is in Control

It means everything. What I love about Jordan Peele is that he normalizes Black people in leading roles. And being in the leading role is no commentary on being Black. Obviously, there was that connection with Get Out, but that wasn’t the case with Us. It’s not the pivotal connection of his work. The most consistent piece in his work is its social commentary that the audience can chew on afterward.

However, it is about normalizing and putting Blacks and people of color at the forefront. Telling their narratives and stories effortlessly that includes their culture but doesn’t tie their identity to being Black in a way that’s victimized or subservient. It’s important for creators like Jordan Peele, actors, and all of us, to continue to push that envelope as it pertains to Black representation being very robust because we are robust people.

You recently tweeted, “No means no, even when it doesn’t pertain to sex” after a fan continued to film you without your permission. What’s your response to this idea that if you want to be famous, you must take the bad with the good? How do you decide which parts of your life to share with the world and which parts to keep sacred?

It’s true that you do have to take the good with the bad, whether you’re famous or whether you’re working at Starbucks. Everybody that walks in there isn’t going to be nice, but [you] can say to the asshole that comes to you at Starbucks, “I’m not fucking taking your order.” It’s the same thing. So yes, as a famous person, people are going to do that to me, but I also can tell people, “Hell no.”

Celebrity-ism is something that many people want, so it’s hard for them to have compassion for it—because if they don’t envy it, then they despise it. Neither of those things will help you understand or put yourself in the position of someone else, but at the end of the day, it’s a job. That’s why I always try to help people get that viewpoint. I do this because I love it, not because I wanted to be famous, but because I wanted to create art and conversations. Fame is a side effect that I have to deal with that sometimes can be cool and sometimes can be bad. But in between all of that, I’m a human being learning how to set my boundaries and let people know when I’m on the clock and when I’m not. That’s me keeping it real.

You’ve become something of an Instagram icon, posting everything from comedy, fashion, and brutally honest words about what you’re going through, including your journey with PCOS. As millennials, we’ve witnessed social media permeate every facet of our lives. What’s one thing you love and hate about the internet?

I love that it’s limitless. You could do many things on it, whether that’s put your work out there, express yourself, or create. The thing that I don’t like about it is the same reason I love it—it depends on the individual and what they do with that power. It’s a pendulum; there’s positive and there’s negative. Then going even more full tilt, both positive and negative are necessary. What we need is a balance. Sometimes it just requires you to have a lot of accountability on what you choose to give your attention to online, because if you go too left and not enough right, you’re going to end up in the deep. That’s what makes the internet great but also somewhat spooky.