--- description: Keke Palmer penned an inspirational message to her fans about the progress of black actors before she was set to perform in "Grease: Live." title: Keke Palmer Writes Inspirational Post Before 'Grease: Live' image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt25fa1489251e9972/69887b79428a9ec8f8cd1307/keke-palmer-grease-live.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Keke Palmer Writes Emotional Message to Fans Ahead of _Grease: Live_  by [Melissa Chan](/author/melissa-chan/)  ## Melissa Chan Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jan 31, 2016 9:45 PM CUT  Actress Keke Palmer as 'Marty' during the dress rehearsal for GREASE: LIVE airing Sunday on FOX. Actress Keke Palmer as 'Marty' during the dress rehearsal for GREASE: LIVE airing Sunday on FOX.Michael Becker-FOX via Getty Images  by [Melissa Chan](/author/melissa-chan/)  ## Melissa Chan Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jan 31, 2016 9:45 PM CUT Actress Keke Palmer [posted an inspirational message](https://www.instagram.com/p/BBN4jK3krkg/ "undefined") to her fans about the progress of black and female actors on Sunday hours before she was set to perform in [_Grease: Live_](http://www.fox.com/grease-live "undefined"). The _Akeelah and the Bee_ star, who is playing Marty in Sunday’s live performance, pointed out the historical significance behind her role in an Instagram post. “I feel as if I have waited my entire life for a moment like this,” she wrote. “There has never been an African American in Grease and while I hate that that’s something to be pointed out, it is! My little brother and sister think differently growing up seeing me do something like this! They will not know it to be any other way in their 14yrs of living! That is REAL!” Palmer said she was inspired when she was younger by Brandy, who [played a black Cinderella](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0128996/ "undefined") in 1997\. “Even if you are not an African American, you will be the first at whatever YOUR dreams are because they are yours. So whether you are an African American, or a female or whatever, if you can not relate to ANYONE in our show at face value. Relate to the fact that this is the first time anything like this has been done and it’s only being done because we all believed!” _Grease: Live_ airs beginning at 7 p.m. ET on Fox. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4201666/keke-palmer-grease-live/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4201666/keke-palmer-grease-live/"},"headline":"Keke Palmer Writes Emotional Message to Fans Ahead of Grease: Live","datePublished":"2016-01-31T21:45:44.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-31T09:10:05.053Z","description":"“I feel as if I have waited my entire life for a moment like this\"","url":"https://time.com/4201666/keke-palmer-grease-live/","keywords":["Television"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt25fa1489251e9972/69887b79428a9ec8f8cd1307/keke-palmer-grease-live.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Chan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt25fa1489251e9972/69887b79428a9ec8f8cd1307/keke-palmer-grease-live.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"FOX's \"Grease: Live\"","caption":"Actress Keke Palmer as 'Marty' during the dress rehearsal for GREASE: LIVE airing Sunday on FOX.","creditText":"Michael Becker-FOX via Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4201666/keke-palmer-grease-live/","name":"Keke Palmer Writes Emotional Message to Fans Ahead of Grease: Live"}}]}] ```