Happy Halloween. Some costumes get a few likes and disappear by Monday. This one got noticed by a member of the Jackson family, and the mom behind it is still trying to recover.
Keke Palmer is an actress and TV host, known for movies like “Akeelah and the Bee” and “Nope.” For Halloween 2026 she and her 3-year-old son, Leo, recreated “Scream,” the 1995 song and video Michael made with his sister Janet, with Keke as Janet and little Leo as Michael.
That’s the costume. The bigger story is who saw it.
Janet did. And she didn’t just scroll past.
According to Billboard, Janet “was a big fan, reposting a few of Palmer’s posts featuring the getup on Instagram Stories.” She added a note of her own, too, as reported by “Extra”: “I LOVE THIS !!! HOW CUTE !”
Think about that for a second. “Scream” is the song and video Michael and Janet made together as brother and sister. Now here’s Janet, all these years later, cheering on a toddler in a tiny version of her brother’s look. Michael passed away in 2009, so it’s lovely to see his sister get such a kick out of a tribute to him.
Keke talked about it with “Extra” backstage at the 2026 Daytime Emmys, right after winning Outstanding Daytime Short Form Program for “Glam Through the Ages.” So it was already a big night for her. Then the reporter brought up Janet.
“Janet reposting it almost sent me into a tail spin,” Keke said. “I’m like, ‘Not my girl Janet!'”
That’s the reaction of a fan, plain and simple. Keke may be famous herself, but in that moment she sounded like anybody whose favorite star just noticed them.
She also owned up to something funny. While making the video she tried one of Janet’s dance moves, and the next day she could barely move. Her body let her know.
“She ain’t no joke,” Keke said of Janet. “That’s some serious stuff!”
The best way to hear the rest is from Keke herself, telling the whole story backstage in her own words.
Keke Palmer tells the Janet story backstage at the Daytime Emmys
For Keke, the whole thing started as a bit of fun with her son. She said she loves “to get some good laughs out there,” and she was happy people enjoyed the tribute “because we had fun making it.”
You can find Keke’s own reel of the tribute on her Instagram if you’d like to see mother and son in action.
And if you haven’t watched the original “Scream” video in a while, this is a good weekend for it. Michael and Janet made it together, and now a 3-year-old has his own spin on it, with Janet’s seal of approval to go with it.
Not a bad Halloween for a little boy named Leo.