Keke Palmer - Black Lives Matter, Body Positivity & The VMAs | The Daily Social Distancing Show

Keke Palmer, welcome to The Daily Social Distancing Show. (chuckles) Hey, how are you? It's good to see you, man. Hey, I'm living, you know? Living as-as best as I can during these times. And, uh, before we get into the-the heftier side of, you know, what's happening in life, I wanted to start off with congratulating you. It's not often that you have moments of joy during coronavirus. Everything is going through their ups and their downs, but I wanted to say congratulations. You're gonna be hosting the MTV VMAs. Yes, I am. I'm very excited about it. Um, and yes to literally everything that you said. Um, I'm excited hopefully to give people an opportunity to get some entertainment, uh, and good spirits during all of this kind of craziness, as you mentioned. I have a serious question for you about your... the trajectory of your career. What do you think is more impactful in your life, doing, you know, major things like being in movies and in TV shows and hosting your own, um, you know, hosting award shows, et cetera, or being turned into a meme? Because you are one of the most famous memes on the Internet. -(laughing) -I mean, everyone sends it to me. Everyone just uses it for everything. They're like... Where you're just like, "I don't know this man. "I don't know anything about this man. I don't know who this man is." Like, that-that must be your greatest achievement, right? -I'm not crazy. -No, you're not crazy. And it shows how-how much we're here, Trevor, because, literally, I think the coolest thing in life is becoming a meme. Point-blank, period. Because you're part of pop culture. Like, you're-you're part of how people, like, say... It's like being Shakespeare but of 2020, you know what I mean? People use you to finish their sentences in a message. Has anyone sent that to you to finish, like... Like, has anyone sent you as a meme to you to argue with you? That's what I want to know. Yeah, people have sent me the memes. They've done "the gag is." They've done "sorry to this man." I've seen them all, and it's so crazy. I don't use my own memes 'cause I think that's a little, like... (groans) But it's funny when other people use them. It's crazy. So, um, let's talk a little bit about the, uh, about the awards. It's gonna be socially distanced, which means it's gonna be different. Can you give us any sneak peeks about what's gonna be happening, who's gonna be performing? 'Cause it's gonna be an MTV VMAs like we've never seen before. Yes. Well, we got a lot of great performers. We got BTS performing. First K-pop group to ever be performing at the VMAs. -I'm very excited about that. K-pop is amazing. -Wow. Um, as well as, um, CNCO. We got Doja Cat. Very excited to see her perform. We got DaBaby and a bunch of other great, uh, people performing. We have some surprises in there. And, um, to your point, yeah, it's definitely gonna be different this time, but we're still finding ways to make sure that the audience is still a part of the show in the same way -that we, you know, expect with the VMAs. -Oh, right. So, you know, I'm really excited. We have this one, um, this one drive-in setup. That's all I'll say. That is really, really cool. But we still want to make sure we keep everything safe. BTS is an interesting segue for us to use to get into the next part of the conversation, because K-pop fans have been lauded as some of the most woke fans during these times. You know, they've been pushing Black Lives Matter. They've been changing hashtags online to get younger people involved in the struggle of what people are fighting for right now, which is equality and justice. And you seem like the perfect person in that moment to be with BTS and in the K-pop world and in the world of equality and justice, because one of the videos that was... that went around on the Internet was a video of you at a protest. And it wasn't you making the video of yourself. It was just you at a protest where you were... you were saying some really heartfelt things to the officers who-who were tasked with keeping, uh, you know, peace and law and order, et cetera. I would love to know, like, what was going through your mind when you were speaking to them. Like, did you... did you hope to get through to them? Was it you venting, like, what you were feeling in that moment? I wanted some answers. I think at that moment, I had been having so much festering at that moment that I felt when I saw them there, um, you know, their priority was to keep the building safe, and I just kind of thought to myself, you know, "Well, how great would it be if-if we all were together?" You know, because the reality is is the buildings, they can be rebuilt. But it's the people and the lives that we're losing to... you know, senselessly, that can't be. So I just wanted in that moment... Like, at the end of the day, we're... we're all fighting on the same team. Even when I think about all the things that-that do happen within the military and in the injustices that we're fighting against there, as well. I just felt like, "Let's come together, you know, in this moment." I wasn't thinking about anything other than really just reaching him as a... as a human being, because I was so overwhelmed, uh, with the emotion from what was going on and what is going on. You've always been somebody who's been outspoken. It doesn't matter what the issue is, you know, whether it's how the industry should change, whether it's how society needs to improve, whether it's about your experience as a Black woman. I-I think I've always admired how honest you are in sharing your experiences and-and how much humanity you put out. I never feel like it's a talking point. I never feel like Keke's reading from a script in-in delivering her feelings and emotions. Why has it been so important for you to do that? I really think that just happens to be how I r... how I was raised and has really nothing to do with the entertainment aspect. I think that allows me to be a little bit more "popular" -and for the things I do and say to be more sane. -Mm-hmm. But it is just the kind of household I grew up in. My dad is very that way. My dad always talked about Ruby Dee, Muhammad Ali. Um, he talked about Ossie Davis. He talked about Martin Luther King. He... You know, we would go on tours together, my dad and I, with Bernice, um, when I was a kid. So, I think just kind of trying to be aware and also carrying the understanding of what it means to be a Black American and just our, uh, history in this country in particular, um, there's just been a little bit of that responsibility that I felt at home that I think just happened to travel its way through my... in my work. And I happen to be a passionate person, as well, and it's how I express that. I think one of my favorite things about you, though, is you express the complexity of being Black in many... in a way that few people truly understand. Being Black comes with a lot of pain, but being Black has also created from that pain a lot of joy. You know, being Black is able to tell jokes, being able to sing, being able to dance whilst also fighting against systems of oppression. That's what being Black is, and I feel like Keke Palmer represents that. I mean, like, while you're out there fighting, while you're out there protesting, you're also still creating. You know, you're making TV shows, and I believe you got an EP that's coming out, as well, which seems like a lot of fun. -(laughs): Like, it's-it's not... -Yes. It's not... Some of the songs are... Like, one of them is about getting thicker -during coronavirus, yes? -(laughs) Yes! So, you know, Virgo Tendencies is literally the pr... Like, I had some of the songs before, and then many of them were created during quarantine. -Yes. -And it really was my escape. Um, to your point, like, when you talk about the paradox of being Black and what that experience can be, I found so much solace in my creativity, and I really love to encourage others that, look, look, see what's going on and see what's going around, but don't let it break you and don't let it push you down. Use it, uh, the same way those before us did and-and let your resilience sing through and showcase your heart to the world. And that's what I try to do, uh, you know, within my work. So it-it's crazy that you say that like that. (chuckles) Tell me... tell me about the song, though. I want to know how-how you decided... 'Cause I-I've heard many songs about people enjoying their bodies. I-I've heard many songs about people being thick or people being like, "You know, I'm thick like this. I'm thick like..." I-I can safely say this is the first song I've heard about someone experiencing the thickness derived from coronavirus specifically and being indoors and stuck and just eating and living the good life on the couch, essentially. Because that's the attitude that I was experiencing at that time. It's like, you know what, I wanted to embrace it, and I wanted to put my self in this space that allowed me to kind of still access a feeling of freedom even though we were being so caged in. And so I didn't want to let myself get to the negative bag of the fact that, oh, my gosh, I'm gaining more weight, I'm spending more time on the couch. But you know what, I'm getting thick. And you know what, I'm living it, I'm loving it, I'm vibing it, I'm not gonna let this, uh, scenario steal my joy-- I'm-I'm still gonna love myself and vibe out and that's literally the energy of the whole project because I felt that's what I needed during, uh, especially the beginning half of COVID, and, um, I just wanted to give that to my fans and just, like, you know, try to turn up and try to just escape for a minute. And there's some laughs on it, too. There's some music and-and I got some skits and stuff. Yeah, it's got music, it's got skits. And you say it's for your fans, but I think everyone who listens to it will become a fan because we've all become thicker during this period. And so I feel like that should become the new anthem for the summer is-is the coronavirus thickness that Keke-Keke Palmer has given us. Keke, thank you so much for joining us on the show. And good luck at the MTV VMA Awards. We're all gonna be watching. Thank you, Trevor. You are the best. Bye.