Keke Palmer says she clashed with Ryan Murphy while working on Scream Queens

Actor recalled angry phone call with Murphy in which she claims he ‘ripped’ into her

Keke Palmer has claimed she clashed with Scream Queens director Ryan Murphy while working on the series.

Speaking in a new interview about her memoir Master of Me: The Secret to Controlling Your Narrative, in which she shares anecdotes from her career so far, Palmer reflected on her two seasons making Fox’s 2015 slasher comedy Scream Queens, alongside actors Emma Roberts, Billie Lourd, Skyler Samuels and Lea Michele.

In her book, 31-year-old Palmer claims that Murphy – who also created American Horror Story and Monsters – called her “unprofessional” during filming, and that an unnamed co-star made a racist remark towards her.

According to the LA Times, Palmer writes that she had been given a shooting schedule and arranged to fulfil another business obligation on her day off. But when that day came around, she was informed by production that she was needed on set.

She decided to attend her prior obligation, and writes that this decision resulted in an angry phone call with Murphy in which he “ripped” into her and told her she was being unprofessional.

“It was kind of like I was in the dean’s office,” Palmer told the publication when asked about the incident. “He was like, ‘I’ve never seen you behave like this. I can’t believe that you, out of all people, would do something like this.’”

The Independent has contacted Murphy’s representative for comment.

The actor said she had imagined she could possibly become one of the people “you keep seeing in Ryan’s world – Sarah Paulson, Emma Roberts”. Palmer reckons that possibility went out the window when she pushed back on the scheduling changes.

Keke Palmer pictured in 2023 (Getty Images)

Palmer said she apologised to Murphy for not being able to film that day, and she thought that would be the end of the disagreement. However, days later, Palmer recalled talking to a co-star in her trailer who said Murphy was still agitated.“I said, ‘Ryan talked to me and I guess he’s cool, it’s fine,’ and she was like, ‘It’s bad,’ trying to make me scared or something, which was a little irritating,” Palmer said.

“I’m still not sure Ryan cared, or got it, and that’s okay because he was just centering his business, which isn’t a problem to me,” Palmer writes in the memoir, via LA Times. “But what I do know is even if he didn’t care, and even if I never work with him again, he knows that I, too, see myself as a business.”

Ryan Murphy at the Golden Globes in 2023 (Getty Images)

Elsewhere in the book, Palmer alludes to other negative experiences on the Scream Queens set. She describes how a white actor on the show, whom she refers to as “Brenda,” once made a racist remark to her on set.

Palmer writes that “Brenda” was upset over a clash with a colleague, and she tried to calm her down by suggesting that everyone “have fun and respect each other.”

“Keke, literally, just don’t. Who do you think you are? Martin f***ing Luther King?”

“It was such a weighted thing that she said, but I didn’t allow that weight to be projected on me, because I know who I am,” Palmer told LA Times. “I’m not no victim. That’s not my storyline, sweetie. I don’t care what her ass said. If I allow what she said to cripple me, then she would.”

Scream Queens follows the college sorority Kappa Kappa Tau (KKT), which is targeted by a serial killer using the university’s Red Devil mascot as a disguise. It ran for two seasons before being cancelled by Fox.