← The Latest with Loren LoRosa
The Latest with Loren LoRosa
Replay* Keke Palmer’s new series Southern Fried Rice is getting absolutely dragged .. cu
00:25:34
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- [00:00]
Lauren LaRosa
This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.
- [00:04]
Julian Edelman
This is Julian Edelman from Games with Names. Now let's get into the serious stuff. We're talking football food, specifically Daisy French onion dip. These are so delicious. They're like homemade dips made with real herb and spices. Also made with some daisy sour cream. Daisy sour cream is a long standing staple for taco Tuesday. They also have daisy ranch dip. So get out there and give Daisy French onion dip a try. You will not regret it.
- [00:39]
Lauren LaRosa
I'm the home girl that knows a little bit about everything and everybody.
- [00:43]
Julian Edelman
You know, if you don't lie about that, right? Lauren came in hot.
- [00:46]
Lauren LaRosa
Hey, y', all, what's up? It's Lauren LaRosa. And this is the latest with Lauren LaRosa. This is your daily dig on all things pop culture, entertainment news, and all of the conversations that shake the room, baby. Now today we are are going to get into a conversation that is shaking the room. The Internet, the comments, all of the things. Kiki Palmer, our girl. It's your girl, Kiki Palmer. Kiki Palmer has just unveiled a new series via her digital network called Key tv. And this network, you know, works with a ton of black producers, directors, writers to bring series and, you know, just different pieces of content and art to the world. This week, she premiered a trailer for a series called Southern Fried Rice from her key TV network. And when I tell y', all, it is getting dragged. I have seen. To be honest with y', all, I wouldn't have even known that this series dropped unless I saw all of the backlash about the series itself. And granted, I knew Kiki Palmer had Key tv. I follow Key TV on Instagram. But y' all know the algorithm don't be algorithming sometimes, so you might not see every post and everything. So I hadn't heard of this series. I just knew she was, you know, doing stuff over there in that space because I have a. Of a. A person, because I have a person that I know, a writer, a director, fire just creative, a black woman named Nakia Stevens. And I have known her just in a work setting for some years. I actually interviewed her back in like 2020, 2021 for a short series that I had. It was during the pandemic when, you know, all the corporates were letting black people have a voice. I had a series, a digital series at TMZ called Piece of the Pie. And it was pret I got a chance to, like, go out and find different creatives, so directors, casting directors, producers, executive producers, actors, musicians, painters, you know, whatever Whoever I thought was like dope fire at the time that had a story to tell or was telling stories in a way that I thought was was fire in a way that I admired, I got the platform them. So I did an interview with Nikia Stevens then, which is when I knew of her. Was following her a bit, but became highly recommended through some friends. When I put out some casting fillers for that series and I got a chance to have a conversation with her. After I got a chance to have a conversation with her, I was like, oh, sis is dope. Like, and I admired the fact that everything she was doing, like she has a production company called Damn Right Originals. And I'm telling you guys about Nakia Stevens because Nakia Stevens is actually the executive producer of this series, Southern Fried Rice. She works with Kiki Palmer and the team over there at Key tv. One of the things I admired was her company. So she had a company called Damn Right Originals that was doing so much in the digital storytelling space. And that's always been a goal of mine. Issa Rae was one of the people that I've always looked at as like a north star and everything that she has done via her YouTube channel, you know, Awkward Black Girl. But also for those who don't know, Issa Rae used to platform smaller series via her YouTube channel Digital Series. And Nakia was doing that and she was on a ton of other things and I was like, okay, this is dope. Like I'm here for it. Met her then and then she went on to begin working with Kiki Palmer, which was also fire to see because I, I just knew I'm like, okay, Kiki Palmer has the platform. Kiki Palmer is the girl like, you know, in all of the movies, series, the studios lover. That's a great place for Nikia to be at, period. And black creatives don't get, you know, the ample opportunities, especially not in a Hollywood, you know, movie making, TV show making series making space. It just doesn't happen because they ain't telling that many of our stories, so thought it was dope. So fast forward, I start to see all this backlash online about this the show. And you guys know I went to hbcu. I graduated from Delaware State University. So my algorithm, especially in October. And that's why I'm like, yo, they chose a hell of a month to drop a series about an HBCU that was going to get dragged because it's homecoming season. So if you not feeling blackity black, black, black y in February, you do it in October homecoming season. Everybody's hitting up the homecoming. You, you know, I mean, you and your prairie, all your. Your gear repping, your schools, remembering, you know, why you got to keep your head to the sky. Y' all know, all the things super, super black in October, especially if you graduated from hbcu. So the series started popping up on my feed because I started seeing people on Instagram, on X and on threads pissed off and having a conversation about Kiki Palmer saying she's tone deaf because of the series. I didn't really pay too much attention to it at first, if I'm being honest with Y, only because ever since the, you know, Kiki Palmer's teasing that Jonathan Majors episode for her talk show that she does is Kiki Palmer and her podcast with her mom and then pulling it down. I feel like sometimes with Kiki Palmer, like, she gets unfair criticism because people look at her as perfect because she is the girl. She's been, you know, pedestaled and polished and not even, like, because it's something that she wants, because if you meet her, she's just out here living her life, doing her thing, working, getting her money and going home to her son. But I think the world does that because she's always presented so well. Like, she's such a great actress, such an accomplished actress. You know, everything that she's ever done, we've always known her to do it so well. So the minute Kiki Palmer does anything that is not so well or approved, the world explodes. So I thought it was just like one of those moments, like, okay, moment. It's happening. It'll come, it'll go, whatever. And then I saw Kiki Palmer respond to it. I'm like, okay, this must be really big. So I did some digging, found out that Nakia Stevens was a part of the project. And I'm like, okay, let's have a conversation about this. So the series Southern Fried Rice from Key TV is a series about a Korean American girl who is adopted by a Southern black family. This girl decides that she wants to go to an hbcu. You know, the premise of this is that all of her life, she's been accepted by her small town and the people in her small town. And now she goes to this hbcu. And I will say the HBCU is a fictional hbcu. And that is important because one thing black people don't play about is who did the body spades. And if you renege, they HBCUs. And when you on campus, them Greek fraternities. And sororities like, oh, and edges and. Yeah. And greasing your scalp. Those are the things that you. We ain't compromising that. So they made sure that the HBCU was fictional, which is why it's important to have black creatives telling black stories, because. Yeah, that's important. But so she goes to hbcu and, you know, while there, she's not as accepted, and she's definitely not as accepted just because she has a black family. So she, you know, the story or the series is all about watching her go through that. Let's take a listen to the trailer. All right, Say cheese. Okay. I know I got some explaining to do.
- [07:49]
Kiki Palmer
I got it.
- [07:50]
Lauren LaRosa
Let's start with the elephant in the room. Yes, I'm Asian, yes, my family's black, and yes, I've always been hard to miss. This is Coco. College is what you make is. Once you immerse yourself in the opportunities here, I'm sure that you will find.
- [08:09]
Kiki Palmer
W has so much to offer.
- [08:11]
Nakia Stevens
I mean, to hoe or not to hell.
- [08:14]
Lauren LaRosa
Like, don't forget who you are, Coco. That girl Jackson. For a lot of people, this is hard to understand, but black culture is the only culture I know. Okay? Now, this is set in a, you know, present day time. And the conversation that this is supposed to spark are all things that happen in the college experience from the creators of this series, from their perspective anyway. So, you know, it's going into the conversations about privilege, identity, DEI, STDs, relationships, you know, all the things. It's one of those series from what it seems like, because again, it's not out. I just saw the trailer. That's it. That's all we got. But it seems like it's one of those series that uses something that it's kind of shock value a little bit to reel you in, to have very vulnerable and real conversations about things that people are coming up against every day on these HBCU campuses. Or honestly, I feel like you even go through those conversations in those experiences as graduates of HBCUs, because once we graduate, we go into the world that isn't, you know, all things black. Fried Chicken Wednesdays. Celebratory of the culture. A lot of our workspaces are not, you know, all black. We are one of few, one of many. And it's kind of like a culture shock. Like you're in this bubble of a world for four years at hbcu. And hbcu, for those who don't know, stands for Historically Black college or university. And it's a celebration of like you being you and you understanding and learning in real time through education and through life experience, why the world needs you and why being black is, is such a life changing thing. And a world changing thing like in, in the the campus and the school prepares you to go out into the world and just spread that glitter all over and make your mark on the world. That's the slogan of my hbcu. Shout out to delaw. But yes. So these conversations are, you know, supposed to be sparked by these series. But baby, when I tell you that is not any of the conversation that is happening online around this right now. In seeing some of the backlash on different outlets and seeing Kiki Palmer have to respond and we're going to get to Kiki Palmer's response. I then went and looked at, you know, directly what are people's direct response to this trailer. So I went to the comments on the Key TV Instagram account and I' ma just read a few comments. So there is one comment under here that says in this current climate where they're snatching funding and literally trying to erase our schools. Question mark. We have a responsibility to amplify our own stories and perspectives now more than ever. And we're centering that perspective on an Asian girl rocking bamboo earrings. Question mark. Is this not a bit tone deaf, Kiki? And then another comment says, even if she grew up in black culture, why not further explore her Asian culture? It's another beautiful ethnic culture. If this were reversed, would it hit this same. Another person says, is there going to be an episode where Asian people begin demanding the destruction of affirmative action because there are too many black people at Ivy League schools? And she defends them. Another comment says, I think this project seems dope regardless of what people may say. It is not your job to tell all the black stories. Hell, the people telling you to tell them ain't even spreading the word. These stories are important too. You have a lot of people growing up outside of whatever culture they're originally from constantly feeling judged and misunderstood and people only ever try to make sense of it. A mixed black and white person never seen from the point of view like this. I can't wait to watch. So comments are in shambles under the trailer and this has been going on for days at this point. There's you know, full on think pieces all over threads and in X and in all the spaces. So Kiki Palmer herself had to get online and respond. I did see that. Nakia Stevens, who again I told you guys, is the executive producer, one of the creators behind this project. She did respond also, but Kiki Palmer posted the video, which is being picked up by a lot of the news outlets. Let's take a listen to what Kiki Palmer had to say.
- [12:10]
Kiki Palmer
I don't want to take up too much of your time, but I wanted to chop it up real quick about this series called Southern Fried Rice that's premiering on Key TV that is receiving some controversial feedback. Now, Southern Fried Rice was created by Nakia Stevens, and while I can't speak to her inspiration for the show, I can speak to her dedication as a creature creative. I mean, Nakia has written, show ran and produced four shows alongside her damn right Originals team with Key tv. And Key TV has proudly invested over a half a million dollars on her creations. And I say that because it's not easy to obtain that kind of investment. And Key tv, this is the ethos of the company. It's a network not just because it has stars and shows or, or has talent, but because it's. It's about the people who create the shows and connecting them. Look, what you like is subjective, but the support of black creatives is not. And it's a task that Key TV takes on with pride. Because if you want to be a creative, you have to be able to create, and that takes money. And it's Key TV's mission to find the funds for you to be in practice, for you to experience trial and error, and to take your projects off the page and get more than one chance to do it in action. So whether you like it all or some or none, I say give these creatives a chance to grow as we continue to grow in supporting them.
- [13:37]
Julian Edelman
This is Julian Edelman from Games With Names. Now let's get into the serious stuff. We're talking football food, specifically Daisy French onion dip. These are so delicious. They're like homemade dips made with real herb and spices, also made with some Daisy sour cream. Daisy sour cream is a long standing staple for Taco Tuesday. They also have Daisy Ranch dip. So get out there and give Daisy French onion dip a try. You will not regret it.
- [14:10]
Lauren LaRosa
I'm now going to play for you guys. What Nakia Stevens, you know who Keke Palmer was also just referencing, had to say once the backlash started going, you know, really crazy. Let's take a listen. Hello. Hi.
- [14:22]
Nakia Stevens
I wanted to come on here and first and foremost say thank you so much for watching the Southern Fried Rice trailer. I'm seeing the comments, I'm seeing the support, I'm seeing the discourse, and as a Storyteller I welcome it. I welcome conversation, I welcome curiosity. And for those of you who've been following me and supporting my journey, y' all know that some Southern fried rice is 10 plus years in the making. And you know, it was inspired by my own HBCU experience and observations as a student at Savannah State University, the first public HBCU in Georgia. But no, I had friends at Savannah State University and people in my orbit who were non black and had to navigate a historically black space. And I saw how hard and challenging and fun and beautiful it was for them to do so. And that sparked my curiosity and honestly planted the seed for Southern fried rice. And obviously over the years it has been massaged into something more deeper and nuanced. But that was ultimately the seed, right? And I think my ultimate goal was to spark conversation around culture, around belonging and around identity. And so that's what I think I've done. And I'm very proud of Southern Fried Rice. Furthermore, I'm very proud of the people behind Southern Fried Rice other than me, the people I collaborated with. So a black woman director who also attended an HBCU. Three producers who also attended HBCUs, some of our cast and crew also attended HBCU. So these are people who love and protect black culture and hold it close to their hearts who were collaborating on this project. And so, yeah, I'm proud of it. And I'm also first and foremost, I already said it, first and foremost, second most. I have to say thank you to Kiki and Kesey TV for allowing me the opportunities. Like this is my fourth project with.
- [16:31]
Lauren LaRosa
Key tv, so we'll cut it there. So I think one of the important things is, number one, Nikia making it very clear that she attended hbcu and several other creators on their projects also went to HBCUs. And I know that a lot of Nakia's work, not even a lot, like I would say, you know, and this is me just going off of what I see in passing and I'm just like, you know, I'm scrolling liking and just, you know, keeping it going. I'm not like a die hard, hard, you know, avid watcher of all the Nikia's content, but Nikki Stevens and damn right originals. I would say at least 90 of their content and things that they focus on are black centric or black focused when it comes to storytelling, like why they're telling the story and whose story they are actually telling. I mean, she's not new to this is what I'm conveying, but I Wouldn't even call it a mistake because I think art is subjective and I think we also have not even watched the full series to really be able to critique it and call it some of the things that is being called being. It's being called tone deaf, it's being called disrespectful, it's being called invasive. Like, you know, we're allowing people to just come in, people are having conversations about why don't we learn to gatekeep what is ours. I think that, you know, and I would say this even if I didn't know Nakia Stevens and didn't know the work of Dan. Right. Originals only. Because now I feel like, you know, being in a space that I'm in, I can understand how you can put something into the world and your intention and the actual messaging and your intention can be one thing, but it can hit a completely different way. And if people just, you know, don't give it the chance because of that first initial hit and then your intention and other things are, you just don't get the fair shot for it to be conveyed. So I'm going to watch the full series and I'll come back here and do a full breakdown of the full series and another, you know, follow up, you know, episode and review on it once I do. But I will say, though, just off of, you know, the trailer, the premise and all the background information that I've collected, I do understand why people are upset. I'm not a person that's going ever call for somebody not to be able to tell a certain story, not to be able to do a certain thing. I haven't seen the full series so I'm not going to write it off. Especially because like Kiki Palmer said, I know how hard it is just to be able to do what Nakia is doing and she does it very well. But I do understand the upset. I want to share a personal story. When I came into Delaware State University, my college picks in the schools that I applied to, I think I applied to maybe two or three HBCUs. I didn't really know much about HBCUs. I only knew of Delaware State because I had a mentor who is also a Delta, which is a Greek sorority. A part of the Divine Non Mine on HBCU campuses was a graduate of the school. My goal was to get into like a big city school. So I wanted to go to like a NYU or USC or something like that simple. Anything that was going to put me in a position where I could like act and, and Model and do the things that I'm doing now. Didn't happen. Ended up at Delaware State University. And I remember the first thing, literally like the first thing that I was told when I decided to go to Dell State was, you know, you want a model and you want to work in entertainment. It's going to be so hard for you to be able to do that because number one, you're going to be in do. You're going to be in the middle of nowhere. Nobody supports HBCUs and HBCU students nor those conversations around the school. People don't even think that those schools are legit. People are going to look at your degree and not think it's legit. You're not going to be able to do things you want to do on a high level. It's going to be hard. That was the narrative that was given to me when I headed to my hbcu. I got there and hit campus and I was like, I don't care about none of that. This school makes me feel good. Like this school makes me understand my place in the world. Because I see all these people that look like me that have the balance between like, I can have a good time, time, I can achieve, I can do all these things, but at the same time I'm going somewhere and like I'm going to disrupt when I get there. It was just, I don't know, it's a feeling that I can't really explain. Anybody who's went to an hbcu, you understand exactly what I'm saying. But it's a very sacred and a very like my experience is not another HBCU students experience. But I think we can all, we all can understand. I think that's why as alumni we go so hard for our schools. That sacred I want to protect just keeping certain things in that experience and that connection that you're able to make with yourself and make with the fact that like your black and you're needed in this world that the school gives you. You want to protect that feeling. So I'm at my hbcu, I'm doing, you know, all the things, having a great time. My senior year comes and we slowly start seeing more white people on campus. And we used to make jokes about it. Like we used to be like, oh, every white person we saw on campus, we used to be like, oh, they, they got to be on the equestrian team. And then I remember I graduated, I graduated in 2014 from Delaware State University and came back to school. Now the following year, 2015, Dell State at that time was bringing in about 4, 000 new students. 11% of them were white or non black. Not a big percentage, but it, it, it's a different type of life experience and feeling when you are the majority, not the minority. So you got to still experience that. A few years passed and I remember it was a big thing that Delaware State University had this like big huge influx of non black student enrollment. And there was a big discourse online about it amongst students, amongst alumni, because there was this feeling of like, okay, this is supposed to be ours. Like this is supposed to be down to like the music, the dances, the way that we talked to each other, the way that the teachers loved on us and spoke to us. And you know, it just the community of it all. That is such a big thing on HBCU campus. And I think the minute that you think about, you know, bringing non black people into that space to matriculate through that school, you get the sense and the feeling that that goes away. Now again, I wasn't there when this happened on my campus, so I don't know what the feeling and if the feeling changed, but I can tell you how I felt watching it. I felt bad for the students that were on campus and having to come behind me. And the reason why is because I do think that there is a conversation that we never ever have as black people. Because we normally have to just shut up, put our head down and do the work. Because we are the minority, not the majority. Your world and your life are just different when you are surrounded by your people. The way you talk, the way you hold your head, the way you dress, the way you glow, everything is different. The minute you bring people from outside of that, and no matter where they've grown up, the type of family they've come from, how much slang they know, how much hip hop they know, anything thing, it's just different. You have to pull your pants up and look and walk and talk and posture yourself a different way. Being on an HBCU campus, the beauty of that, you learn that right, you learn how to navigate in the world and protect yourself and keep yourself alive. But it's a reprieve, it's a breath of fresh air. It is a comfort space because you don't have to do it every day in your day to day like you do in the world. Because the world is looking at you and putting you behind the eight ball all the time. Instantly that doesn't happen on your HBCU campus, but instantly when you begin to see others that don't look like you in this space. You do it. It's just a natural thing that we do. We call it duality or our ability to code switch. But if, if you think about how instantly you do that and how you've been raised all of your life, if you're a black person listening to this, to do that, it's exhausting after a while. It is very exhausting after a while. And it was great to be in a space where I never had to feel that exhaustion. So I felt bad for a lot of the students after me because I'm like that feeling of never having to feel that exhaustion, even though they're going to be the majority versus the minority, it's just going to be different. So I get people's up it. I also get the upset because. And I'm one of the people that believe that we don't get keep. Like, I think certain things should be kept for us and it's okay. Like, I don't necessarily want to hear about, you know, a non black person's experience at a hbcu because to me, being at HBCU and being the black person who had to accept the non black person is always like, well, why are you here? What are you here for? And why can't this just be ours? This has all of the makeup of everything that is going to piss somebody off. And I actually hope that every single person that has had something to say about this series, both positive and negative, take the time to watch it because I think it's only fair. If you're going to critique something, you need to know exactly what you're critiquing and why. And we don't know that to the full extent yet. We don't know kind of how this story maps out. Don't know Nakia super, like, personally, but I know her work and I can speak to her work enough to know that nothing about what she has ever done and never put out into the world was harming of us or for us and for our stories ever that I've seen. I want to give her, you know, the benefit of the doubt and watch it, get a. Get some full context on it. And then I'll be back to have a conversation with you guys. You know, about what I think, and I'm open to having Nakia and Kiki Palmer come on the podcast and, and have the conversation. I think that that would be a dope episode as well, but I think we got to give it some time. But I do think, though, that this should be a lesson to all creatives because what I hope, right, I hope that when I go watch this series, when you're going to take a chance like that and there's a shit shock factor, like seeing a non black person at a coveted black space, like a hbcu, you gotta really, really, really know what you're doing. Not even know what you're doing because Nakia knows what she doing. But you got to really, really, really make sure as much as you can because things are always misconstrued. But as much as you can, you got to make sure that your art is laying as close to your intention as it can be and you're doing everything you can to make sure you get in all your points across. And you know, I mean, dot your eyes, cross your t's if you are the creator. Because this is very sensitive to people. People. For some people, HBCUs is the only space they've ever experienced that was okay for them to be them. And then they went out into a world that was like, yo, put your head down. I'm gonna humble you real quick. So it's very sensitive to us. You know what I mean? So I get it. Again, gonna watch the series. It's via Key tv. It is called Southern Fried Rice. And I'll be back with an update once I watch. This is the Latest with Lauren LaRosa. At the end of the day, y' all could be anywhere with anybody having a conversation about these topics, but y' all choose to be right here with me. Lowriders. I appre you guys every single time in every single episode. I'm Lauren LaRosa. This is the latest and I will catch you guys in my next episode. Oh, and please take it to the streets in the tweets. Every other page are gold at me. Lauren LaRosa L O R E N L O R O S A everywhere. I want to hear your thoughts on this. I want to hear your thoughts. Let's talk about about it. I'll be back.
- [26:44]
Julian Edelman
This is Julian Edelman from Games with Names. Now let's get into the serious stuff. We're talking football food, specifically Daisy French onion dip. These are so delicious. They're like homemade dips made with real herb and spices. Also made with some Daisy sour cream. Daisy sour cream is a longstanding steak for taco Tuesday. They also have daisy ranch dip. So get out there and give Daisy French onion dip a try. You will not regret it.
- [27:16]
Lauren LaRosa
This is an I heart podcast. Guaranteed human.