Keke Palmer and show creator Nakia Stephens respond to backlash over new HBCU series ‘Southern Fried Rice’
Nakia Stephens, the creator of “Southern Fried Rice” on Keke Palmer’s network “KeyTV,” says she welcomes the social media discourse.
When KeyTV dropped the trailer for its new series “Southern Fried Rice,” social media did what it always does: raised a curious brow, pressed play, and promptly started debating.
What began as curiosity quickly turned into confusion, disbelief, and outrage for some viewers, who were surprised to see the show center on an Asian American young adult who grew up in a Black family as she embarks on her first year at a fictional Historically Black college.
The series trailer quickly sparked discourse online as users struggled to understand the intent behind KeyTV, a network founded by Keke Palmer with a mission to champion young Black creatives.
SOUTHERN fried rice…..
Southern FRIED rice……..??
Southern Fried RICE…..?!?!?!?! pic.twitter.com/0UPioZRQi8
— Cindy Noir✨ (@thecindynoir) October 22, 2025
I’m not watching no show about an Asian girl raised by a Black family attending an HBCU. You should’ve released tht bullshit when Dear White People and Mixed-ish came out. We not on that right now. Read the room.
— I appreciate you. (@DeeLaSheeArt) October 22, 2025
As the show’s executive producer, Palmer took to social media to address the growing commentary and shed some light on the Black creatives behind “Southern Fried Rice” and other KeyTV productions.
“I wanted to chop it up real quick about this series called ‘Southern Fried Rice’ that’s premiering on KeyTV that is receiving some controversial feedback. Now, ‘Southern Fried Rice’ was created by Nakia Stephens. While I can’t speak to her inspiration for the show, I can speak to her dedication as a creative,” Palmer said in a video posted on social media. “Nakia has written, showran and produced four shows alongside her Damn Write Originals team with KeyTV, and KeyTV has proudly invested over half a million dollars in her creations. And I say that because it’s not easy to obtain that kind of investment.”
“[At] KeyTV that is the ethos of the company. It’s a network, not just because it has stars and shows or has talent, but because it’s about the people who create the shows and connecting them,” she added going on to list other Black creatives that the network has supported, including Antwan Lawshe, Eric & Rosero McCoy, and Chelsea Sanders.
“Look, what you like is subjective, but the support of Black creatives is not, and it’s a task that KeyTV 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 KeyTV’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 creators a chance to grow as we continue to grow in supporting them,” Palmer concluded.
As for Savannah State University alumna and creative behind “Southern Fried Rice,” Nakia Stephens, she says she welcomes the discourse.
“I welcome conversation. I welcome curiosity,” she shared. “Our ultimate goal was to spark conversation around culture, around belonging and identity, and so that’s what I think I’ve done.”
“’Southern Fried Rice’ is 10-plus years in the making, and it was inspired by my own HBCU experience and observations as a student at Savannah State University, the first public HBCU in Georgia,” she explained. “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.’”
Stephens explains that the show is meant to create dialogue “because representation isn’t one-dimensional.” Beyond the story told on screen, she explains how particularly proud she is of the stories that live behind the scenes of her latest project.
“Other than me, the people I collaborated with [included] a Black woman director who also attended an HBCU, three producers who also attended HBCUs. Some of our cast and crew also attended HBCUs. So these are people who love and protect Black culture and hold it close to their hearts, who were collaborating on this project,” she explained.
You can form your own opinions and support the Black creatives behind the show by tuning into “Southern Fried Rice” on KeyTV’s YouTube channel.
Responses