Thanks to social media, Keke Palmer’s acting has taken on a new phase in the form of memes. The Nope actress’s facial expressions and hilarious commentary have been used numerous times, but one of her most memorable memes came from Vanity Fair’s Lie Detector series. In the Sept. 2019 video, the I Don’t Belong to You author had to identify former vice president Dick Cheney, to which she replied with the famous words that made her go viral. “I hate to say it, I hope I don’t sound ridiculous...I don’t know who this man is. I mean, he could be walking down the street, I wouldn’t know a thing. Sorry to this man.”
“Didn’t you use to talk to—“
— Mel (@TheBaddestMitch) September 13, 2019
Me: pic.twitter.com/5vF7ra2SpE
Since becoming a viral sensation, Keke has continued living up to her fan-given nickname Keke “Keep a Job” Palmer and launched a digital network called KeyTV. In her interview with Net-a-Porter, the former child actress opened up about her career such as being the “queen of memes.”
“I think it’s really sweet and cool that people see me that way,” she said. “A meme is a meme because you relate to it. And, sometimes, I have experiences in my life when I don’t feel like people can relate to me, because I’m an entertainer, or they have a certain idea of what my life is like. So I love the idea that, when someone’s looking at one of my memes, they’re just seeing me as a normal person.”
The former talk show host likes to keep some kind of normalcy in her life when she isn’t Keke, the brand. “Keke Palmer is also that everyday girl who is just living and wanting the same things we all want – a family, a time for a personal life away from work, time with her nieces and nephews and her mom,” she explained. “And wanting to take road trips in a trailer to continue my Midwestern roots of enjoying the simplicity of life.”
Fans have watched the Alice star grow up in Hollywood and whether she’s on-screen or off-screen, Keke has been viewed as a positive role model. She has accomplished so much in her young years, from making history as the youngest person to have her own talk show to being the first Black Cinderella on Broadway but this just may be the tip of the iceberg for the 29-year-old.
“My thirties are probably going to be better than my twenties… There was a lot going down [in my twenties], but you learn so much,” she said. “You feel so grown, but you’re really still a kid – learning and figuring things out. I’m looking for my thirties to be a breeze.”
She also gave advice to girls who may be interested in following in her footsteps. “In my position, the biggest thing I want to tell all little girls is to never carry the weight of being Black, or being dark-skinned, as something that’s going to hold you back,” she said.
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Featured image by Kevin Winter/Getty Images