A new series from Damn Write Originals titled “Southern Fried Rice” stirred up controversy and conversation among social media users, with some saying the project centers a historically Black college and university (HBCU) without highlighting Black characters and plays into negative stereotypes about Black people.
The seven-episode series finished airing on Oct. 24 and follows a Korean American woman, KoKo Johnson, who was raised by Black parents in the South and is navigating life at a historically Black university.
The project, written by Savannah State University graduate Nakia Stephens, is executive-produced by Keke Palmer and airs on her network, KeyTV. The series stars Page Yang, Kordell Beckham and Choyce Brown.
Jhourden Ivery, a senior business management major from Houston, Texas, said when she first saw the trailer on TikTok, she felt the storyline was forcing Blackness onto the main character.
“The way they introduced her — where she was saying she was raised on catfish and cornbread — it was the way her accent was flipping in between every other sentence,” Ivery said.
Ivery said she saw a large amount of discourse from Black creators online and decided to watch the show herself because she couldn’t believe it was real.
Episodes of “Southern Fried Rice” run under 17 minutes. Ivery said she stopped watching after the second episode. Her breaking point, she said, was the portrayal of the antagonist — a dark-skinned, plus-sized woman — which she felt was tone-deaf because the character was depicted as angry.
“It felt very insensitive. It’s supposed to be a show funded by Keke Palmer, who is also a dark-skinned Black woman,” Ivery said. “It feels like they didn’t want a real character. She’s very two-dimensional — only there to create conflict for the main character.”
In a statement to social media on Oct. 22, Palmer said KeyTV has a commitment to financially supporting Black creatives and their right to experiment.
“What you like is subjective, but the support of Black creatives is not and it’s a task that KeyTV takes on with pride,” Palmer said. “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.”
Ivery said Palmer appeared to be more concerned about protecting her network’s image than addressing concerns about the plot.
“She doesn’t sound like she even watched the show,” Ivery said. “It sounds like she just heard the controversy and felt the need to respond to protect her own image.”
For Ivery, the main issue is that the project seems to center on proving that the main character grew up in Black culture — something she believes shouldn’t be emphasized, especially at an HBCU.
“Even having non-Black friends at Howard, it’s not like anything in ‘Southern Fried Rice,’” she said. “A lot of people at the school may not be Black, but no one really bats an eye at it. Like my friend — she’s not Black, but she’s here. We accept her. She’s our friend because she’s not actively trying to prove she belongs here.”
Jasmyn Gore-Roberts, a sophomore film production major and theater arts minor from Detroit, worked on the set of “Southern Fried Rice” in the spring and summer.
She found the director’s assistant internship opportunity on Instagram and spent the summer in Atlanta. Her role included creating social media graphics for background actor applications, scheduling catering services, organizing shot lists and sitting in on weekly meetings and script reads.
Gore-Roberts said there were many discussions about the plot during production, but the overall intention was cultural exposure and awareness.
“That’s kind of the point of creativity — to catch people off guard and bring more awareness to certain issues that society tackles today,” she said.
Although she wasn’t expecting backlash, she said she values other people’s opinions and interpretations.
“Looking at the show as a whole — for all of its details — and not just the fact that an Asian girl is attending an HBCU, will help people appreciate what the show is trying to do instead of focusing only on its downfalls,” Gore-Roberts said.
She added that while she wasn’t involved in the creative writing process, she appreciated the production experience and the positive on-set environment.
“The plot shows something that isn’t being represented in media right now,” she said. “As a student entering the film industry, my goal is to tell stories that bring awareness to things that might be seen as controversial — not to start arguments.”
Keoina Plummer, a junior psychology major from Hot Springs, Arkansas, said she has been a fan of Keke Palmer since her Disney Channel days.
Plummer said she understands the concept of “Southern Fried Rice” and believes many people can relate to navigating spaces where they are the minority. However, she was confused by the main character’s background.
“She was from a Black family, so it’s not like she hasn’t been around Black people before,” Plummer said. “That’s where it started to get weird.”
She said she wasn’t surprised that people were upset about the main character attending an HBCU, as many believe those institutions should remain safe spaces for Black students.
Plummer partially agreed, citing concerns about the availability of dorm space and scholarships.
“I don’t mean to sound harsh, but they’re taking funds away from other people who are ‘supposed to be here,’ who this school is for,” she said.
Still, she said she acknowledged that Black culture has long been shared across different groups.
“Our culture is known to be shared among so many others, so it wasn’t surprising,” she said.
Stephens, the writer of the project, shared on social media that her study abroad experience in college helped shape the idea for “Southern Fried Rice.” She said she is open to conversation about the show, but felt that the context of its creation needed further explanation. Stephens also announced that an FAQ video will be released soon.
Copy edited by Damenica Ellis
