Actress Keke Palmer is facing internet backlash after announcing Jonathan Majors—recently convicted of assault and harassment—would be appearing on an upcoming episode of her podcast “Baby, This is Keke Palmer.”
In 2023, a court found the Loki actor guilty of reckless assault against his ex-girlfriend Grace Jabbari. As a result, Marvel and other studios dropped him and many of his former fans have not forgiven him.
The podcast episode appears ready to address Majors’ domestic violence history and the idea of “accountability.” Fans expressed disappointment and disbelief online (many even suggesting it was an April Fools’ Day prank), given Palmer’s own experience with domestic violence.
‘Accountability and Moving Forward with Jonathan Majors’
On April 1, 2025, the preview for the next episode of the podcast “Baby, This is Keke Palmer” appeared across various streaming platforms. The episode, set to air on April 7 on Apple Podcasts, is titled “No Easy Answers: Accountability and Moving Forward with Jonathan Majors.”
“Accountability. It’s a loaded word, right?” the description asks. “We’re living in a time where we want real accountability—especially for things men have gotten away with for far too long. At the same time, finding forgiveness feels harder than ever, and we’re still figuring out what true accountability even looks like.”
“Today, we’re sitting down with Jonathan Majors to talk about what life has looked like after being convicted of harassment and assault.”
What did Jonathan Majors do?
On March 25, 2023, Majors placed a 911 call claiming he’d found Jabbari unresponsive in his home. Police later arrested him on assault and harassment charges, alleging domestic violence against his former girlfriend.
After attempts by the defense to claim that Jabbari had recanted her accusations, witness testimony and CCTV footage of Majors attacking and chasing her led to a conviction on one count of reckless assault in the 3rd degree and one count of harassment as a violation. A sentencing court gave him 52 weeks of probation and mandatory attendance at a domestic violence intervention program.
The case led to more women coming forward to accuse Majors of physical and emotional abuse going back to 2013.
Fans react to Keke Palmer platforming Majors: ‘My sister lost me’
The reaction to the news that Majors will be on Palmer’s next podcast episode was overwhelmingly negative. The disappointment from her fans is palpable, with popular X user @cursedhive tweeting, “…my sister lost me” and adding “it really is one of them days now.”
Others expressed shock since Palmer herself got a temporary restraining order against her ex Darius Jackson in 2023. This combined with the trend of other celebrities signaling support for Majors left some utterly baffled.
User @barneyconbotox wrote, “first Michael B. Jordan coming forward to publicly support him now Keke Palmer, a whole domestic violence victim herself, lending her platform to Jonathan Majors, a man WITH A WHOLE A** RECORD OF VIOLENCE ON WOMEN.”
“WHY ARE PEOPLE RALLYING BEHIND A F*CKING WOMAN ABUSER????????”
Does Keke Palmer have a history of defending abusers?
One X user, @templui, got over 6.3 million views with a reply to the news pointing out that this is not Palmer’s first venture into defending convicted abusers. They posted a clip from an episode of “The Breakfast Club” in which she spoke up for R. Kelly, remarking, “She’s not new to this, she’s true to this.”
“Y’all gon’ stop coming at my boy, Kellz, okay?” she said when hosts balked at her using him as an example of connecting with audiences.
“Stop with the grooming,” she continued after they brought up the grooming allegations. “I do not know this side of Kellz. The side of Kellz that I know is the musical genius.”
Sexual abuse allegations against R. Kelly go back to 1991, and by the time the above Breakfast Club episode aired in 2018, it was hard to find many folks defending him (the hosts have indulged in some unfortunate behavior themselves.)
“You know how insane the words coming out of your mouth gotta be for even charlamagne the god and the rest of the breakfast club to be looking at you crazy,” said @Itzbreeya.
Palmer did finally speak out against the rapper in 2019 after watching the documentary Surviving R. Kelly.
“I am hurt and saddened because he could have been a blessing to these women but instead he repeatedly took advantage and that I can not accept,” she wrote in an Instagram post.
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