Keke Palmers recent remark that The Cosby Show character Clair Huxtable was uppity got some people on the internet up in arms.
During an appearance on SiriusXM on Thursday, the actor addressed the backlash shes received, explaining that she made her original remarks in fun.
This was just a joke, yall, damn, she said with a laugh.
But Palmer then thoughtfully explained that while she was being lighthearted when she made the quip on The Terrell Show earlier this month, there was a deeper explanation behind the comment.
She said she believes that Clair, a lawyer and mother in a upper middle-class family, was created to combat other stereotypical Black female characters on screen, but that it ended up making the character, played by Phylicia Rashad, sometimes feel unrelatable.
Palmer said she thinks Clairs character was intended to contrast with other TV characters, such as Florida Evans on the 1970s sitcom Good Times. Florida was primarily a stay-at-home mother whose family struggled to make ends meet. She was played by Esther Rolle, who died in 1998.
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I think Florida Evans was necessary at the time that she was created as well, Palmer said. My point ultimately was that I think both Florida and Clair were if Floridas on the left, Clair is on the right. Theyre both extreme in what they are representing, which sometimes can feel unrelatable.
When youre trying to combat something so much, you sometimes end up being one thing, she said, adding that the character Vivian Banks from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air played first by Janet Hubert, then later by Daphne Maxwell Reid was more nuanced and relatable to her.
Im happy that we obviously had characters like Clair Huxtable and had characters like Florida Evans ... We needed everything, Palmer said. But Im also happy that were in a time that weve continued to add more color to the Black women we see on television.
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