April 24, 2023
'A Little Bit of Everything' – Keke Palmer Talks Gender, Sexuality
Kilian Melloy READ TIME: 2 MIN.
>i>Watch Keke Palmer on "The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon"
Keke Palmer opened up – way up – about her sexual orientation and gender identity during an April 22 gala hosted by the Los Angeles LGBT Center, during which Karamo Brown presented the actor, singer, and talk show host with the Center's Vanguard award.
In her remarks, Palmer "got real about her own relationship to gender and sexuality, and how she resists easy labeling," noted BuzzFeed News.
"I'm so grateful to be here today to be embraced by a community that I've always felt accepted by and a part of," Variety quoted the "Akeeland the Bee" and "Nope" star as saying.
"Sexuality and identity for me has always been confusion," Palmer went on to say. "You know, it's, 'I never felt straight enough. I never felt gay enough. And I never felt woman enough. I never felt man enough.' You know, I always felt like I was a little bit of everything."
The Emmy-winning actor added, "So often, I lead with masculinity. And as a woman, I've always been met with so much disdain, you know what I mean?"
Saying that the way she's been "diminish[ed]" because of gender has caused her "pain and resentment," Palmer grew tearful and added: "Why did my gender have to define the power I have in the world? And why does my gender get to decide my sexuality?"
"You know, since I was younger, I always questioned the boxes I was forced to be in and it starts with who you're supposed to be as a child," the singer continued, before going on to say, "I'm truly so grateful to be seen in this room because I know I'm surrounded by people who know without a doubt what it's like to decide to be who you are in a world that tells you to be everything but yourself."
UK newspaper the Daily Mail recalled that Palmer had "previously opened up about her sexuality in November, reflecting on wanting to 'exist and not be challenged on' her sex and sexuality."
The Daily Mail was referring to an interview with The Hollywood Reporter in which Palmer stated her opinion in a forthright manner: "Fuck gender. I just want to be able to exist and not be challenged on how I'm existing."
Kilian Melloy serves as EDGE Media Network's Associate Arts Editor and Staff Contributor. His professional memberships include the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association, the Boston Online Film Critics Association, The Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association, and the Boston Theater Critics Association's Elliot Norton Awards Committee.
