KeKe Palmer Defends Zendaya Coleman Portraying Aaliyah After Backlash
KeKe Palmer is supporting Zendaya Coleman who was recently ast as the late singer Aaliyah in an upcoming movie about her life.
Aaliyah Haughton died over 12 years ago in a plane crash at the age of 22. While XXL.com reported that her former manager and uncle, Barry Hankerson, spoke about his niece being featured in VH1 bopic last year, numerous media sources like Variety have announced that Zendaya will portray the late singer on Lifetime networks.
However, it does not seem everyone is keen on watching the 17-year-old actress, singer and dancer from Disney bring Aaliyah's life story to the small screen. A petition called "Stop the Rumored Aaliyah Biopic" was created on ipetitions.com which garned over 1,300 signatures along with rumblings about the Haughton family not being happy about the movie.
However, Coleman is receiving support from her fellow actress and singer Palmer, 20, who was cast to play Rozonda "Chilli" Thomas in a biopic about the group TLC last year.
"I'll never forget how I was unmercifully dragged when I was casted to play Chili! Now, that's all I hear I look like," Palmer tweeted recently. "Ppl kill me attacking folks! Zendaya is perfect for Aaliyah. Quit playin'."
She went on to encourage people to stop being hateful and watch the film before judging.
"What is written is written. If you're doing it, it is for you," Palmer wrote. "Forget what everyone else says. I know from experience that it is not fun being attacked for doing what you love. Watch the movie first!"
Palmer's message comes after Coleman defended her reason for wanting to portray the late singer.
"She's been an inspiration and influence in my whole career, her talent still shines brighter then ever, all I wanna do is honor her," the youg singer wrote. "Show how much she accomplished in only 22 years....she's beautiful inside and there will never be another Aaliyah, I just hope to share her beautiful story, and make her proud up in heaven #babygirl #forever #OneInAMillion."
She added, "I'm just a 17 year old girl who got cast to play one of her biggest inspirations #positive."
