Keke Palmer is known for sharing her unapologetic opinion about various topics, and she’s never been afraid to back down from a debate.
The 29-year-old has been met with a bit of pushback after her viral appearance on “The Terrell Show.” During a game of “I Know You F—king Lying,” the actress answered a series of questions that gave fans more insight into some of her lesser-known quirks and perspectives.
One of the questions that came up was: What is something you hate that everyone loves? Palmer mulled over her options, which included Swedish Fish, Twizzlers and “The Addams Family” character Wednesday as host Terrell Grice looked on.
What she ultimately settled on happened to be one of the most beloved mother figures in television history.
“Clair Huxtable, she was uppity, she was uppity, y’all. Bottom line! Bottom line” declared the first-time mother who welcomed her son Leodis “Leo” Andrellton in February with her boyfriend Darius Jackson.
Doing her best snooty impersonation of the fictional mother of five, she said, “‘Oh, really. Oh.’ I just said, ‘Girl, stop!’ “
Palmer doubled down on her stance, further explaining, “Y’all know that Clair was way too — come on! … She was just so, ‘I’m Claire Huxtable. Oh, Cliff.’ Girl, say what you saying! She got on my nerves some time. ‘Cause I’m like ‘Clair, keep it real, sistah girl.’ Seriously, Clair was too much.”
Clair was famously portrayed by actress Phylicia Rashad on “The Cosby Show” for its eight-season run from 1984-1992 on NBC. Her on-screen husband, Heathcliff Huxtable, was played by show creator Bill Cosby. The series long has been championed for disrupting stereotypes of the Black family.
The family’s matriarch was an accomplished lawyer, Cliff was a doctor, and they were raising their five children in a Brooklyn brownstone. On top of the two being present Black parents, fans especially loved that Clair was an educated and sophisticated woman. Reactions to Palmer’s sentiments about the character included:
“Nah, fam. Respectfully disagree. Clair kept them kids in check and never minced words. She was a strong, smart Black woman character that challenged stereotypes. She gets a pass from me.”
“You can tell a 90’s baby, because um no mam. I love you, KeKe, but no Claire Huxtable slander will be tolerated. Classy, YES. Uppity, NO.”
“Nah I don’t agree. Sitcom moms like Claire, Aunt Viv, and Bow were much like the women who raised me so I’m happy for that representation.”
“She was just proper y’all are use to y’all parents cussing y’all out.”
While attending the 2019 ATX Television Festival, the veteran theater-trained actress said the cast had no idea how big the show would go on to become. “We were [just] having fun,” she said, according to Variety.
In 2020, Rashad told “The Breakfast Club” that she has often reminded fans that her portrayal of the fictional mother is just that, a work of someone’s imagination.
“People say, ‘Oh, oh! You’re just the perfect mother!’ and I look at them and smile and say, ‘Thank you.’ But you know it’s easy when you’re scripted and the children are scripted too. In real life, there are no scripts, and there’s no handbook,” she explained.
The Howard University dean has two children: a son named William Lancelot Bowles III with her first husband and a daughter named Dola Rashad with her ex-husband Ahmad Rashad.
The family comedy was pulled from syndication on a number of networks after allegations of sexual assault launched against Cosby resurfaced in 2014.
Cosby, then 83, was convicted in 2018 of drugging and molesting former Temple University student Andrea Constand. He spent two years in prison before his conviction was overturned. He was released in June 2021.
