Vanity Fair has reunited actresses Keke Palmer and Angela Bassett 16 years after playing mother and daughter in their 2006 movie, Akeelah and the Bee.
Bassett started off their sit-down interview by asking Palmer to do a face-to-face demonstration of her infamous impression of the 64-year-old from the 1992 TV miniseries “The Jacksons: An American Dream,” where she starred as Katherine Jackson. “I’ve seen you online imitating me,” the Black Panther star said as she laughed. “You do a great job… A friend of mine in DC, she sent it to me. I didn’t know what it was, it was on Instagram or something. And I looked and of course, it was like, hearts, hearts, hearts, hearts. I love it. I adore it.”
Palmer responded by explaining that it was one of her “most notable impressions.” One that she only used to do for Queen Latifah, whom she’s worked with many times in the past, including Palmer’s first-ever movie role for Barbershop 2: Back in Business in 2004. “I just recently started doing it online and everything but whenever we worked together, I did it for her one time and she’d be [like] ‘Do Angela, do Angela,’” the 29-year-old said.
Bassett replied, “Ok, Keke. We’re here together. We’re finally here. I don’t have to watch you online. I can actually see it right here before me.” When Palmer said, “I can’t believe this. This is insane,” Basset encouraged her to not be shy. “Don’t be shy, you’re not shy at all,” she said.
Palmer took to her social media account to share her excitement after the opportunity. “Doing my impression of @ImAngelaBassett for Angela was too good!! Thank you for having me @VanityFair. I had so much fun,” she wrote on Twitter while sharing a clip.
You can watch the duo’s full Vanity Fair sit down below: