Keke Palmer blasts Zendaya 'colorism' comparisons

Calling herself "an incomparable talent," singer-actor and "Nope" star Keke Palmer on Sunday rebuffed comparisons between her own career and that of fellow singer-actor Zendaya, star of the HBO hit "Euphoria" and co-star of Marvel Studios' blockbuster "Spider-Man" trilogy.

A Twitter thread beginning the day before, which attracted the 28-year-old Palmer's attention, had touched on colorism, a form of discrimination that favors lighter-skinned ethnic people, including Black, Latino and Asian, over those of darker skin.

"I'd like someone to do a deep-drive on the similarities and differences between Keke Palmer and Zendaya's careers," the initial post reads. "This may be one of the clearest examples of how colorism plays out in Hollywood. They were both child-stars, but their mainstream popularity is very different." As a teen, Palmer played the title role in Nickelodeon's 2008-11 comedy "True Jackson, VP," while a teenage Zendaya shared the lead with Bella Thorne in Disney Channel's 2010-13 sitcom "Shake It Up" before going on to star in the same network's 2015-18 adventure-comedy "K.C. Undercover."

The original poster later clarified, "I'm not slighting either woman. I'm literally a fan of both of them. It's just weird that ppl are acting like this is a breakout role for Keke, who is VERY successful. And Zendaya has talked abt colorism before …"

Palmer nonetheless took umbrage, tweeting, "A great example of colorism is to believe I can be compared to anyone. I'm the youngest talk show host ever," she boasted, referring to BET's daily afternoon talk show "Just Keke," which ran for 20 episodes in 2014. "The first Black woman to star in her own show on Nickelodeon, & the youngest & first Black Cinderella on [B]roadway," in 2014 in the title role of the musical "Rodgers + Hammerstein's Cinderella." Palmer is also set to host an NBC revival of the game show "Password," which premieres Aug. 9.

"I'm an incomparable talent. Baby, THIS," she tweeted, "is Keke Palmer."

She added, "I've been a leading lady since I was 11 years old," with four film and TV appearances in 2004. "I have over 100+ credits, and currently starring in an original screenplay that's the number one film at the box office #NOPE. I've had a blessed career thus far, I couldn't ask for more but God continues to surprise me."

Zendaya, 25, born Zendaya Coleman to a Black father and white mother, has not commented publicly on the Twitter commentary. Each performer has won an Emmy Award — Zendaya in 2020 for outstanding lead actress in a drama series, for "Euphoria," and Palmer last year for outstanding actress in a short form comedy or drama series, for Facebook Watch's "Turnt Up with the Taylors."