Keke Palmer could not help but share some exciting news during her live podcast taping with Michelle Obama at the ESSENCE Festival of Culture on July 3 in New Orleans. While recording a live episode of IMO: The Look at the Caesars Superdome, Palmer revealed that she is developing a basketball-themed comedy film with Higher Ground, the media company founded by Barack and Michelle Obama, alongside Aubrey Plaza.
“We’re working on a movie, y’all. This is gonna be good,” Palmer said. “It involves basketball and Aubrey Plaza, so you can imagine some comedy. So keep a lookout for that.”
The reveal came in the middle of what was otherwise an intimate conversation between the two about style, identity, confidence and navigating purpose at every stage of life. Palmer’s enthusiasm for the project was impossible to contain. “I’m so excited. I’m grateful that you’re gonna be a part of that project,” she added.
The project marks a continuation of Palmer’s growing relationship with Higher Ground. The two parties first connected when Palmer appeared alongside Michelle Obama on her Baby, This Is Keke Palmer podcast in May 2026, a natural pairing given both women’s shared commitment to conversations around identity, self-expression and ambition for young women. The ESSENCE Festival taping deepened that bond further, bringing the two together in front of a live audience for one of the festival’s most buzzed-about moments.
Higher Ground, which produced the Oscar-winning Rustin and Leave the World Behind for Netflix, has been steadily building a slate of projects that center Black stories and culturally resonant narratives. A basketball comedy starring Palmer alongside Aubrey Plaza fits squarely within that vision.
Plaza is no stranger to basketball culture, having famously played in an all-female recreational league in Los Angeles called The Pistol Shrimps and starring in a 2016 documentary about the team.
No further details or release information have been announced.