
Former star of Nickelodeon's 'True Jackson, VP' star shares her insights on why she wasn't considered in the same way as her peers during her time as a child actor despite the success of her show.
- Jan 15, 2025
AceShowbiz - Emmy-winning actress Keke Palmer reflected on her early acting days and the disparities she witnessed during her time on Nickelodeon. Despite the success of her teen sitcom "True Jackson, VP", she felt that "people were putting limitations" on her.
Palmer explained, "I wasn't necessarily in the same conversations as Victoria Justice or Selena Gomez or Miley Cyrus at that time. It was very much 'That's the Black show' or 'That's Keke Palmer, the Black girl on the network.' "
Justice had her own Nickelodeon show "Victorious" while Gomez starred in "Wizards of Waverly Place" and Cyrus famously headlined the "Hannah Montana" franchise - both on Disney Channel.
Palmer went on to relate the feeling to being the only Black child in her class at her private school in Illinois. "There is a loss of innocence that comes with the awareness that you're treated differently that I'd accepted a long time ago," she said, noting that she has since changed her perspective. "I don't compare myself to anyone," Palmer said. "But I definitely don't compare myself to any White person."
After graduating from "True Jackson, VP", the actress continued to nab roles in television and movies. In 2016, she played a lead role in Ryan Murphy's series "Scream Queens" and starred in Jordan Peele's hit horror movie "Nope", and next up she'll be in the comedy "One of Them Days" with SZA.
As someone who worked on both Nickelodeon and the Disney Channel - in the 2007 film "Jump In!" - Palmer opened up about the differences she saw between the two networks.
"Disney is really amazing when it comes to, not only the storytelling you see on screen, but the storytelling within the company. They are storytelling through marketing, through their employees. They've got the pins in the office," Palmer said on a November 2024 episode of "The Toast" podcast.
"They are literally like a whole universe, and I think that feels really good when you're a kid because the magic doesn't end. There's an element that being a part of it is really, really fun."
Palmer later noted that "Disney has a way of making you feel like, 'I need to be here. It's something you want to be a part of.' " When it came to Nickelodeon, "their paying was really awesome," she revealed, adding that the environment was "kind of like 'Come in and get this check.' It wasn't about making it necessarily exciting."