Keke Palmer Opens Up About the Racial Dynamics She Faced as a Child Star on Nickelodeon: "There Is a Loss of Innocence"

"I wasn't necessarily in the same conversations as Victoria Justice or Selena Gomez or Miley Cyrus at that time," Palmer explained.

Keke Palmer is opening up about her time as a child star on Nickelodeon.

In an interview with The Cut, she spoke candidly about the racial dynamics at play at the network.

“I wasn’t necessarily in the same conversations as Victoria Justice or Selena Gomez or Miley Cyrus at that time,” Palmer explained. Adding that “people were putting limitations” on her at that time.

“It was very much ‘That’s the Black show’ or ‘That’s Keke Palmer, the Black girl on the network,” she continued.

During her time at Nickelodeon, she said learning about her statute at the network caused her to lose her innocence.

“There is a loss of innocence that comes with the awareness that you’re treated differently than I’d accepted a long time ago. I don’t compare myself to anyone but I definitely don’t compare myself to any white person.”

Palmer starred True Jackson, VP  from 2008 to 2011, and 60 episodes of the show were aired. The show was centered on a teenager who was hired to be Vice President of a large fashion company. After the show ended, Justice starred in Victorious from 2010 through 2013. Gomez and Cyrus each had their own shows on the Disney Channel.

“You’re at this weird age where you’re too young for the kind of roles that you would want and you’re too old for the kind of roles you used to get,” Palmer said. “ Your brand was made up of you being a kid, and you’re not a kid anymore. So you have to build a new one.

To say that Palmer has flourished after Nickelodeon would be an understatement. She starred in CrazySexyCool: The TLC Story as Rozonda “Chilli” Thomas and in Jordan Peele’s Nope. She became the first Black woman to win an Emmy as a game show host, and in 2022, launched her own network in 2022.

For her latest project, Palmer is starring in the buddy comedy One of Them Days, along with SZA. Produced by Issa Rae, the film debuts in theaters on Jan 17.