No longer a child star anymore, Keke Palmer has done a great job throughout her adult career with her best movies including Nope, Animal, and her 2025 movie release One of Them Days. At the same time, it doesn’t mean fans have forgotten about her breakout role as Akeelah Anderson in Akeelah and the Bee. So much so that Palmer talks about the time she met a superfan of the family-friendly movie in a strip club!
It’s natural with child stars that no matter how many adult roles they have under their belt, they’ll always be remembered for the role that established their career. In the case of Palmer, there are still Akeelah and the Bee fans out there who will never forget when she played a Scripps National Spelling Bee contestant. In a Fandango video, One of Them Days producer/star Issa Rae asked Palmer about the wildest experience she had with a server at a restaurant. Here’s the former child star’s hilarious response and it involves a strip club and her breakout role as Akeelah:
Well, I never had a crazy, you know, server at a restaurant type of thing, but I do remember one time I was at a strip club. And this was a very unique situation with me, where the stripper came out. She was like, 'Oh my gosh, Keke, they told me you was here, and I just wanted to let you know that my two favorite movies was Akeelah and the Bee and Selena growing up, and I almost made my stripper name Akeelah.... I just want you to know I love you.'
I can imagine it being wild for Keke Palmer to discover a role she played when she was 12 was almost the inspiration for a stripper name! It’s also ironic that the dancer said another of her favorite movies was Selena which starred Jennifer Lopez. Both the True Jackson, VP actress and Lopez were in the cast of Hustlers where they both played exotic dancers themselves. Talk about a coincidence.
But then again, I can understand why this fan was so taken by the movie Akeelah and the Bee. The character of Akeelah Anderson is certainly motivational as the middle schooler faced a lot of luck ranking as high as she did in the spelling bee when it was her first year competing. As Akeelah's school was underfunded, she didn't have the privileges that kids from other schools had in the classes offered that could have helped her win. However, Akeelah had the help of English professor Dr. Larabee, a fictional teacher who made a real impact on the 11-year-old to bring out skills she didn’t know she had. At the same time, she helped her tutor as well cope with a personal tragedy they both could relate to. It appears that Palmer felt incredibly complimented that her first big movie still resonates with adult fans today.
The Daytime Emmy nominee didn’t always have positive experiences with her fans. For instance, there was a time a fan filmed her against her will after Keke Palmer told her she didn’t want her picture taken. She also clapped back at haters who told her she wasn’t pretty without makeup. Fortunately, not all fan experiences for her have been bad like how fans have been rooting for her to play Rogue in an X-Men remake which she responded delightfully in an on-brand way that she’d be up for it. Plus with a stripper saying how much she loved her Akeelah and the Bee, it’s nice to know there are superfans out there who take the time to compliment a person’s achievements.
It may have been a "unique situation" for Keke Palmer to meet an Akeelah and the Bee superfan at a strip bar. On the other hand, it shows that there are fans everywhere and that an actress’s breakout role can still stay in people's minds decades later. Make sure to catch Palmer’s latest movie One of Them Days in theaters on January 17th.
