Keke Palmer Said That Ryan Murphy “Ripped” Into Her And Called Her “Unprofessional” When She Refused To Come To The “Scream Queens” Set On Her Day Off
Keke believes that this incident is why Ryan didn’t work with her again after Scream Queens.
Keke Palmer has revealed that TV producer Ryan Murphy seriously ripped into her when she was unable to come to set on her scheduled day off during filming for Scream Queens.
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For reference, Keke starred in the Fox series alongside the likes of Ariana Grande, Emma Roberts, and Lea Michele for two seasons between 2015 and 2016.
The actor is currently promoting her upcoming memoir, Master of Me: The Secret to Controlling Your Narrative, and in the book, she opens up about her experience on the show.
Per the LA Times, Keke describes being given her Scream Queens shooting schedule, and deciding to fulfill another obligation on her day off. However, when the day came around, production contacted her to let her know that she was actually wanted on set.
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Keke opted to honor her original arrangement, which purportedly led to an angry phone call from Ryan, who branded her “unprofessional” as he “ripped” into her.
“It was kind of like I was in the dean’s office,” Keke recalls. “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.’”
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Keke goes on to say that after apologizing, she thought everything was OK between her and Ryan, but a few days later, a costar visited Keke in her trailer on set to tell her that Ryan was still unhappy with her.
“I said: ‘Ryan talked to me and I guess he’s cool, it’s fine,’ and she was like: ‘It’s bad,’ trying to make me scared or something, which was a little irritating,” Keke writes.
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According to the LA Times, Keke also says that prior to this incident, she thought she’d become one of the actors who consistently works with Ryan, like Emma Roberts and Sarah Paulson.
However, she feels that standing up for herself and not coming to set on this occassion ended any chance of this happening.
“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 explains. “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.”
Monica Schipper
BuzzFeed has contacted Ryan’s rep for comment.
Elsewhere in her book, Keke recalls one of her white Scream Queens costars making a racist remark to her on set.
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Keke does not identify the costar in question, and instead refers to her as “Brenda.”
She says that after a clash during the shoot, “Brenda” told her: “Keke, literally, just don’t. Who do you think you are? Martin fucking Luther King?”
