Keke Palmer says she is planning to take legal action against Trey Songz after he included her in his âPick Up the Phoneâ video without permission. Palmer voiced her strong objections to the âviolationâ and accompanying âsexual intimidationâ in a furious Instagram post earlier this week, demanding, âHow am I in this video Trey? After you found me in a closet HIDING because I was so afraid of anymore conflict. Literally my last option was to hide because you all would not listen when I said I did not want to be in the video the FIRST time. Just cause you give someone food and alcohol and throw in a little sexual intimidation doesnât mean they will buckle.â
Palmer has now followed up the post with an interview with Larry King, in which she reveals how she came to be in the video and why sheâs looking for legal recourse in the aftermath. Apparently, what Palmer believed to be a New Yearâs Eve party in Miami turned into a music-video shoot, and as she started experiencing pressure to partake, âI wasnât in the right mind. I had been drinking and eating and it wasnât a professional environment. It was not a place where I was, like, Iâm in the right mind to decide if this works with my brand, if I like the artist â I donât know nothing about the artist thatâs also in the song.â She says she refused to participate despite the repeated urgings of a producer, an assistant, and Songz himself. Of the latterâs âsexual intimidation,â Palmer elaborates, âI feel, as a female, often Iâm put in situations where sometimes males will use their masculinity, their sexuality, to taunt you.â Palmer intends to take legal action, despite the video having since been pulled, because âitâs not specifically just about this person, this guy, and what he did. Itâs the overall idea that you canât just do stuff to people and itâs alright, no matter who you are.â
This is preposterous. How am I in this video Trey? After you found me in a closet HIDING because I was so afraid of anymore conflict. Literally my last option was to hide because you all would not listen when I said I did not want to be in the video the FIRST time. Just cause you give someone food and alcohol and throw in a little sexual intimidation doesnât mean they will buckle. Yet, you still disrespected me as a young women, whom youâve known since she was TWELVE. YOU STILL, defied my wishes and in turn showed your lack of respect for a brand that took me fourteen years to build and put me in the video against my wishes. Come on bruh, I clearly said no and you said okay, yet I was being secretly filmed when you told me âlet me just show you the ideaâ?? Wow. This is what Iâm referring to in my previous post, this is the sexism and misogyny I refer to because if I was a dude, he wouldnât have even tried me like this. Let this be a lesson to all, Iâm not for the bullshit. Iâm serious about my business and you will not use my likeness without MY permission. When you in front of a boss you treat them like one, like I treat YOU. NO MEANS NO!!!!!!! People have to listen to women and stop questioning them and their intelligence. Speak up, cause when you look someone in the face and they say âI understand. You donât have to feel pressured to do the videoâ and they STILL put you in it, it is a violation. It would be great to be able to handle these things privately but why when they arenât respected?