Keke Palmer Facing Backlash Over Southern Fried Rice Series

Keke Palmer might be one of the most beloved celebrities in the mainstream today, but it appears that her fans have a bone to pick with her over a new series she greenlit. Keke Palmer is facing backlash after promoting a new series, Southern Fried Rice, which follows the exploits of a Korean American adoptee who gets accepted into an HBCU.

Southern Fried Rice is part of Keke Palmer’s KeyTV lineup and stars Page Yang as Koko, who grew up in a Black family and enters the fictional Wright University in Atlanta.

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Southern Fried Rice follows KoKo Jackson, a Gen-Z Korean-American adoptee raised in a tight-knit Black Southern family. When she leaves her small-town to attend Wright University, an elite HBCU in Atlanta, she enters a world that challenges her sense of belonging.

From being dubbed a “Culture Vulture” to exploring friendship and relationships, KoKo is thrust into an identity crisis that forces her to confront the complexities of race, heritage, and self-discovery. Told with humor and heart, Southern Fried Rice explores identity, race, and privilege in today’s world. Through messy roommate moments, campus culture shocks, and emotional revelations, KoKo learns how to make space for herself, even when she doesn’t perfectly fit the mold. This witty and heartfelt dramedy explores coming of age through an unexpected cultural lens.

Some of the immediate reactions under the Instagram post above were not favorable, and that persisted across other social media platforms, with fans decrying the concept of the show and calling it “tone deaf.”

Palmer has since responded to the critiques with a video statement, asking fans to celebrate the success of Southern Fried Rice screenwriter Nakia Stephens and also show support for Black creatives in general.

Across social media, there are plenty of critiques about Keke Palmer’s network airing the series. We’ve got those listed below.

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Photo: Getty

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