{"id":844757,"date":"2025-10-29T20:48:28","date_gmt":"2025-10-29T17:48:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=844757"},"modified":"2025-10-29T20:48:28","modified_gmt":"2025-10-29T17:48:28","slug":"the-beauty-backlash-toward-keke-palmers-southern-fried-rice-is-totally-justified","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=844757","title":{"rendered":"The Beauty Backlash Toward Keke Palmer\u2019s “Southern Fried Rice” Is Totally Justified"},"content":{"rendered":"
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OPINION<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The Beauty Backlash Toward Keke Palmer\u2019s Southern Fried Rice<\/em> Is Totally Justified<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n
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The series is more concerned with defending “acceptable” forms of appropriation rather than starting a conversation about what\u2019s acceptable to begin with.<\/div>\n
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By <\/span>Jihan Forbes<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

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Photo: Getty Images<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n<\/div>\n
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Part of being a good storyteller is knowing which stories should be told and which might be better kept in the drafts. KeyTV\u2019s Southern Fried Rice<\/em> sadly falls into the latter category.<\/p>\n

The limited web series, which lives on Keke Palmer\u2019s YouTube network, was met with swift backlash after its debut for its premise, characters, and writing. The story follows Koko, a South Korean American woman adopted and raised by Black American parents, who is\u2014as KeyTV describes it\u2014on a journey to \u201cfigure out who [she is] beyond the comfort of what\u2019s familiar.\u201d The perfect place to do that, apparently? Wright University, a fictional HBCU located in her home state of Georgia.<\/p>\n

After watching the series myself, I can\u2019t fault anyone for having a negative reaction. There are so many things I have to question about it. Most glaring is the choice to center a non-Black woman in an all-Black environment and, as an added bonus, to outfit her in some of the same aesthetics for which Black women are all too often vilified (you know, like how cornrows were deemed \u201cghetto\u201d until Kim Kardashian wore them). The premise itself is tone-deaf, and it\u2019s not helped by the way this show leans into the appropriation of Black beauty rather than questioning and challenging it.<\/p>\n

This misstep is something one might expect from a team of non-Black writers, but the show was, in fact, written by a Black woman, Nakia Stephens (who has a multi-project development deal with KeyTV). In an Instagram post defending her work, she wrote, \u201cSouthern Fried Rice<\/em> is meant to create dialogue because representation isn\u2019t one-dimensional.\u201d Stephens, an HBCU graduate herself, said the show was inspired by the experiences of her non-Black college friends. Executive producer Keke Palmer also hopped onto social media to address the controversy, invoking KeyTV\u2019s Black creatives in the show\u2019s defense. \u201cIt\u2019s imperative people of color have jobs outside of just being the talent or the player on the team,\u201d she captioned a video posted on October 23. \u201cIt\u2019s my mission\u2026to help fund and support the creators of color behind the scenes, giving them a chance to tell their own story.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Supporting Black creatives and inspiring conversations about representation are missions we can all get behind, but Southern Fried Rice<\/em> missed those marks in several ways\u2014especially in the way Koko is styled. Koko wears what appears to be a loose, curly perm with a wet finish. On her neck always lie a few stacked gold chains, including two nameplate-style necklaces. Doorknocker earrings. Large gold hoops. A satin bonnet at bedtime. For Halloween, intricately slicked baby hairs\u2026with a ninja-style outfit.<\/p>\n

These intentional costume (heavy emphasis on \u201ccostume\u201d) choices are meant to serve as a constant and arguably unnecessary reminder that Koko has Black adoptive parents, but that reminder is more like a hit to the head than a tap on the shoulder. And as a result, the styling team missed out on what could have been some intriguing storytelling moments. Instead of nameplate necklaces, for instance, she could have worn a piece of traditional Korean jewelry given to her by her birth parents to show even a marginal connection to her original culture (which, strangely, she never attempts to explore on her journey to \u201cfind herself\u201d).<\/p>\n

The way Koko is received for her affectation is part of what\u2019s frustrating to watch, too. Koko has not one but two suitors (both Black men) in the show, one of whom courts her simply because<\/em> she is Asian and he wants to \u201ccollect\u201d different races of women like infinity stones. When Koko\u2019s other suitor\u2014who seems to genuinely care for her\u2014tries to make her aware of this, she\u2019s more bothered by him than the fact that she\u2019s being pursued for her race\u2019s sake.<\/p>\n

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The whole situation made me uncomfortable because, for one, it plays into the fetishization of Asian women, which may not affect me personally but is something I can sympathize with, being part of another minority group that is also fetishized, albeit in a different way. Secondly, we have a Black male character pedestalizing a non-Black woman who styles herself in the Black aesthetic. It happens enough IRL that it\u2019s become a hot topic within the Black community, but in my opinion, the show didn\u2019t spend enough time or broach it with enough nuance to make a real statement about it.<\/p>\n

Although the team behind Southern Fried Rice<\/em> insists they\u2019re aiming to start dialogue with these choices, there\u2019s only one character in the show that actually challenges Koko\u2014and the viewer\u2014to rethink the way she shows up in Black culture\u2026 but she\u2019s positioned more as a villain than a voice of reason. Koko\u2019s roommate, Joy, a larger, dark-skinned Black woman with a more Afrocentric aesthetic, consistently reminds Koko (heroically, in my opinion) that no matter her upbringing, she is still an Asian woman who will always be protected, defended, and prioritized within American culture\u2014and Black culture\u2014over monoracial Black women.<\/p>\n