Keke Palmer typically goes viral online for her hilarious one-liners, exaggerated facial expressions and A+ impersonations.
Earlier this month, the 29-year-old faced backlash for expressing some choice words about Phylicia Rashad’s beloved character, Clair Huxtable, from “The Cosby Show.”
Now Palmer has decided to further explain her previous statements made on Terrell Grice’s YouTube show, “The Terrell Show,” where she described Rashad’s character as “uppity” and “too much.”
While speaking on SiriusXM’s radio show, “The Heat,” Palmer noted that her comment was simply for giggles, and suggested that the uptight reactions were an unexpected domino effect.
“I’m like ‘You guys, this was just a joke y’all; damn,’ ” she said before thoroughly clarifying her comment. “I think that Clair Huxtable was created at a time to combat such characters such as that people you know were tired of like Florida Evans.”
Played by the late Esther Rolle, Florida Evans was a mother of three and one of the main protagonists in the 1974 sitcom “Good Times,” which also starred John Amos and Janet Jackson. Florida was often the voice of reason as she supported her frequently unemployed husband, James Evans Sr., played by Amos.
Palmer continued to state her belief of Florida being a “necessary” character that was created back in that distinctive era.
“My point ultimately was that I think both Florida and Clair were… If Florida’s on the left, Clair’s on the right. They’re both extreme in what they are representing. Which sometimes, can feel unrelatable,” she said.
The mother of one added, “When you’re trying to combat something so much you sometimes end up being one thing.”
Palmer then listed Aunt Viv from “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” as a character she not only grew up watching, but to whom she also heavily related.
The classy but no-nonsense anchor of her chaotic family was portrayed by Janet Hubert for the first half of the series and then later portrayed by Daphne Maxwell Reid from 1993 until 1996.
“Now, Aunt Viv she was in Beverly Hills but she also knew how to get down with Will,” Palmer said.
The 1990 sitcom starring actor Will Smith also starred the late James Avery as the very strict Phillip Banks aka Uncle Phil, who was a judge on the show.
Palmer continued, “And that was the beauty of that show was that Aunt Viv and Uncle Phil would be in this big old house and Uncle Phil sometimes would be a little bit too much. He would be a little classist, a little elitist, and it was Aunt Viv who reminded him, ‘Look, we don’t have to play respectability politics. You can be intelligent and have an accent.’ ”
She then credited Aunt Viv for helping her realize that she doesn’t have to adjust her voice or language to fit in with others of a different crowd or audience.
In the end, Palmer gave all of the Black TV moms their props, noting that each character served its purpose for the desired time.
“I’m happy that we obviously had characters like Clair Huxtable and had characters like Florida Evans too,” the actress said.
She also celebrated how far Hollywood has come at writing Black mothers with more “color,” as complex people rather than one-sided characters because “everybody’s a little bit of everything and that’s how I feel.”
