Keke Palmer has never been one to mince words, having been quite honest with her fans and the rest of the general public on more than a few occasions. Most recently, the actress and TV personality became the subject of rumors following the cancellation of her GMA 3: Strahan, Sara & Keke. Because of Palmer’s recent activism in the wake of George Floyd’s death, many began to assume that this was the cause of the show’s demise. Now, Palmer has taken to social media to set the record straight.
Keke Palmer originally joined Strahan & Sara, which starred Michael Strahan and Sara Haines, in June 2019 as a fill-in host while Haines went on maternity leave. About a month later, Palmer was added as a third host, and the show was renamed GMA3: Strahan, Sara & Keke.
Early this year, production on the show was suspended following the outbreak of COVID-19 and daily reruns of the program were replaced with Pandemic: What You Need To Know. It was soon renamed GMA3: What You Need To Know so the program could be more all-encompassing. During this time, Keke Palmer made headlines for her active protesting and, earlier this month, it was reported that GMA3: Strahan, Sara & Keke had been cancelled and that What You Need To Know would be taking its place on a permanent basis.
In a lengthy Instagram post, Keke Palmer, admitted that she would’ve preferred not to publicly address the topic of the show’s cancellation. However, she explained that she chose to speak out in order to squash a “narrative” that gets thrown around from time to time:
I want to speak on this simply because I hate the narrative that if you speak your mind as a black person that you will in some way be punished. I have seen this going around and at first I ignored but in this climate I realized this is a dangerous message to send to our generation and the generation coming up. If anything my speaking out showed the corporations I work with how important my voice is and anyone that has a POV.
With this, Palmer went on to explain that the end of Strahan, Sara & Keke was not linked to her protesting or support of the Black Lives Matter movement. She would go onto explain that she didn’t sign on for the project in the way that one would join a “seasonal” show. And while the project may have ended, she stressed that her relationship with ABC isn’t necessarily finished:
The reality is I was never signed to “SSK” as one would a seasonal show. This business is dynamic and instead of thinking of me as a “series regular” see me see me as a brand that works with the corporation Disney/ABC News and this particular show I was on is no longer. That does not mean the relationship I have with them dies, that means it evolves.
When the initial cancellation happened, it was only natural that people would have questions, especially when other actors like John Boyega have been speaking up in the midst of worldwide protests. In her original post, Palmer included a photo of a meme depicting her activism. Check it out below:
As Keke Palmer states, business contracts can be tricky, and the entertainment industry is definitely complex when it comes to negotiations. Still this should more than clear up things for those who were wondering.
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