Keke Palmer is opening up about the cancellation of her ABC show Strahan, Sara & Keke, saying she “expected” the show to be taken off the schedule after the COVID-19 pandemic became the main priority.

“Here’s the thing, when the pandemic hit, that became all that was on our minds — the pandemic, corona, understanding COVID,” Palmer said during a recent episode of Andy Cohen‘s Watch What Happens Live. “So I kind of knew that, if our show did come back, it would have to be much, much, much later [in the year].”

The host and actress also noted that her show was heavily dependent on “an audience,” explaining that they “do a little bit of news, but it’s entertainment news.”

“It’s really fun conversations and lightheartedness,” she added. “So it’s a different time now, and some of the conversation has changed, and I think it [pushed] us out.”

In March, ABC announced the suspension of SSK, replacing the show with a daily coronavirus report — GMA 3: What You Need to Know —  in its place.

During that time, some fans speculated that Palmer’s outspokenness about racial injustice caused the show to be removed from the schedule and ultimately cancelled. However, Palmer was quick to set the record straight in a lengthy Instagram post noting, she “never signed to SSK as one would a seasonal show.”

“This business is dynamic and instead of thinking of me as a ‘series regular’ see me as a brand that works with the corporation Disney/ABC News and this particular show I was on is no longer,” she wrote. “That does not mean the relationship I have with them dies, that means it evolves.”

By Candice Williams
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