Comedian and “cultural satirist” Akilah Hughes, creator of What a Day and author of the memoir Obviously: Stories From My Timeline, recently went public with an industry story filled with twists and turns that many have interpreted as connecting to the relationship between former Key & Peele collaborators Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele.
Now, a new report from TMZ is citing “multiple sources” connected to Key and his wife, Elle Key, as claiming that the story is “outlandish and fabricated.”
In her story, Hughes recalled being offered a chance to make a sketch comedy show, but she needed someone to help get her foot in the door. She said she was advised to connect with someone described as “the less successful half of a comedy duo that was popular in the 2010s,” which she referred to as “Lock and Banana,” with many quickly interpreting this as a code name, of sorts, for Key and Peele.
Soon, Hughes said offers started rolling in as they began pitching the show. In the middle of the process, per Hughes, “Lock” was offered a chance to host Saturday Night Live (Key did host SNL in 2021). After agreeing that he would plug the name of the show during the credits, Lock instead thanked his wife who Hughes said “becomes a weird main character in this whole story” and eventually, was made an executive producer on the show. Key, notably, has been married to his wife, Elisa Pugliese (better known as Elle Key), since 2018.
Hughes’ agent allegedly called to ask if she’s heard of how people felt about Lock’s wife, insinuating that she had a reputation in the industry, but nonetheless the show was still shopped around, eventually getting two offers, one of which, though Hughes was careful not to outright name the studio, was seemingly from Disney. Hughes signed off on the deal.
Soon after, Hughes recalled receiving a phone call from “Banana’s” wife (Peele is married to comedian Chelsea Peretti), during which she explained that amid a dinner with Lock and his wife, they revealed plans for Hughes’ show. The woman allegedly told Hughes, “I’m just calling you because I wish someone would’ve warned me,” adding that she doesn’t trust the woman to even hold a baby, at one point referencing the late Phil Hartman’s wife (who murdered her husband in 1998).
Hughes alleged Banana’s wife told her that Lock’s wife even poured alcohol on her birthday cake, ignoring her sobriety journey. Peretti herself has spoken publicly about choosing to live a sober lifestyle.
Banana’s wife allegedly also told Hughes, “There’s no accounting for how much money she’s cost that Black man.” Fast forward to shooting the show, and Lock was simultaneously busy shooting a movie alongside Timothée Chalamet (a possible nod to 2023’s Wonka).
Hughes further alleged that, in May 2023 during a production call, Lock’s wife joined and offered unproductive notes and eventually threatened to sue the studio. Production was then put on hold for several months, per Hughes.
Separately, Hughes pulled up a blind item from anonymous celebrity gossip account DeuxMoi, which alleged that Lock’s wife had once made a fuss about having an allergic reaction to a eucalyptus plant during a meal at Tribeca Grill, only for the plant to later be revealed to be fake.
When sharing footage of her story to X, Hughes preceded the clip with this: “If you’ve ever wondered why K** and P*el* don’t work together anymore, well, watch the next video in this thread.”
On Facebook, she shared a slightly lengthier explanation in which she seemingly nodded to Get Out, Jordan Peele’s Oscar-winning directorial debut.
“After a couple of years I decided it was time to air it all out,” Hughes wrote on FB. “This is the hottest celeb gossip I’ve ever been part of. [DeuxMoi] even makes an appearance. [Banana] once said his Oscar-winning film was a documentary. And I tend to agree.”
Indeed, Peele has described Get Out as “a documentary” in the past, including during a 2017 interview with Stephen Colbert.
When reached for comment by Complex last month, Hughes offered the following statement:
“While I have nothing to add regarding the experiences I spoke about in the YouTube video, I do want to say I’ve felt validated by the dozens of creatives across the entertainment industry who have (since posting) come forward with similar stories.”
Complex also reached out to reps for Key and Peele, respectively. As recently as April of this year, Key has spoken quite fondly of his time with Peele on their beloved Comedy Central series, which came to an end just over a decade ago.
