Keke Palmer Says Ryan Murphy ‘Ripped’ Into Her On Day Off

The Los Angeles Times recently caught up with the popular multi-hyphenate entertainer and mother, 31, as she prepares for the release of her upcoming memoir, Master of Me, set for release later this November. During their chat, Palmer touched base on many of the tidbits shared in her book, including her time on Scream Queens, the two-season long FOX horror series, which ran from 2015 to 2016.

Among Palmer’s recollections in Master of Me is an alleged incident between her and Ryan Murphy. As noted in the Los Angeles Times, Palmer was once given a filming schedule for “Scream Queens” that allowed her one day off to fulfill a prior business obligation. When that day ultimately rolled around, Palmer received word from production that she was actually needed on set. She instead chose to maintain her prior obligation, which Murphy caught wind of and became upset.

Palmer was then contacted via phone by Murphy, who she alleges “ripped” into her and called her “unprofessional.”

“It was kind of like I was in the dean’s office,” Keke shared. “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.’”

Palmer offered an apology and assumed she had mended things with Murphy.

Several days after the alleged interaction, Palmer was back on set and believed that she and Murphy were on good terms. That was, until one of Keke’s co-stars told her differently.

“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,” she explained.

Before Murphy’s supposed shunning, Palmer hoped to work with the Glee co-creator again, just as many stars who have appeared in past Murphy productions have continued to do.

“You keep seeing [these people] in Ryan’s world, [like] Sarah Paulson [and] Emma Roberts,” Palmer writes in Master of Me.

Alas, Palmer has seemingly never heard from Murphy following Scream Queens – which she’s more than fine with.

“I’m still not sure Ryan cared, or got [my point], and that’s okay because he was just centering his business, which isn’t a problem to me,” Palmer expresses in Master of Me. “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.”

The Los Angeles Times attempted to reach Murphy for comment but were unsuccessful.

In another section of Palmer’s “Master of Me,” the actress recalls another supposed incident on the Scream Queens set where a racial microaggression was lobbied toward her. After one of her co-stars, whom Keke refers to as “Brenda,” got into a clash with an on-set colleague, Palmer took it upon herself to ease the tense situation by reminding them to “have fun and respect each other.”

The incensed co-star reportedly responded, “Keke, literally, just don’t. Who do you think you are? Martin F— Luther King?”

Palmer has chosen not to name the alleged perpetrator, stating that it would give them power by doing so.

“It was such a weighted thing that she said, but I didn’t allow that weight to be projected on me, because I know who I am,” Palmer shared. “I’m not no victim. That’s not my storyline, sweetie. I don’t care what her a-s said. If I allow what she said to cripple me, then she would.”

Palmer’s recollection of her Scream Queens experience loans itself to a similar experience on a different Ryan Murphy production. Pose star Angelica Ross made headlines in September 2023 when she alleged in an Instagram Stories post another Murphy production mainstay, Emma Roberts, made a transphobic comment on the set of American Horror Story: 1984. As noted here on The Blast, Ross claimed that after a playfight with Roberts, a crew member settled them down by saying, “Ladies, that’s enough,” to which Roberts allegedly responded, “Don’t you mean ‘lady’?”

“I’m standing there, she walked away, [and] my blood is boiling,” the 42-year-old said, as published by E! News. “Boiling because I’m like, ‘If I say something, it’s gonna be me that’s the problem.'”

Roberts offered an apology to Ross days after the allegation. Ross has since retired from Hollywood.

Though Palmer’s take of her Scream Queens experience is new, the show was previously called out for moments of racial insensitivity. Digital Spy notes that in the debut episode, sorority leader Chanel Oberlin – played by Emma Roberts – refers to the maid as White Mammy “because she’s essentially a house slave.”

Murphy attempted to counteract the controversy by claiming that Chanel wasn’t written as a “hero” of any kind.

“I don’t think we were ever glorifying it, or saying that those characters were brave or wonderful for saying that,” he said. “We were saying that they were broken, and the system they were in was broken.”