Keke Palmer, Usher talk Vegas residency moment: 'Caused some ruckus in my relationship'
Usher and Keke Palmer are reflecting on the drama that unfolded when "Yeah!" met "Nope."
On the "Baby, This is Keke Palmer" podcast, the "My Boo" singer and the "One of Them Days" actress looked back on when he serenaded her at his Las Vegas residency in 2023. Footage of the moment went viral that year, and Palmer's boyfriend sparked backlash for criticizing the dress she was wearing at the concert.
"Everybody went crazy, and we caused some ruckus in my relationship," Palmer said. "We were being showmen!"
Usher playfully pushed back on Palmer's suggestion that they were both responsible for causing a ruckus, jokingly asking the actress, "Did I have anything to do with what was going on in your home? Did I send you the dress? I cannot be responsible for how people choose to react to my experience as an entertainer."
He went on to say, "I don't want to take any responsibility for breaking anybody's home up. That wasn't the purpose and point. It was for you to have a good time with your girls."
Usher also noted that he and Palmer were "having a great time," but he quipped that she "shut down the whole world for two seconds." Palmer also said her reaction at the show was "purely based on me being a fan of yours for years," adding that Usher always does "these amazing, engaging moments with the audience."
Palmer wore a black bodysuit under a sheer dress while attending Usher's Vegas residency in 2023. A video from the concert showed Usher serenading Palmer while performing his song "There Goes My Baby," and the two hugged and swayed to the music together.
After the show, Palmer's then-boyfriend Darius Jackson, with whom she shares a son, took issue with what she was wearing, writing on X, "It's the outfit tho.. you a mom."
Fans were quick to jump in and defend Palmer, but Jackson doubled down, writing in another X post, "We live in a generation where a man of the family doesn't want the wife & mother to his kids to showcase booty cheeks to please others & he gets told how much of a hater he is."
Palmer and Jackson have since broken up. In November 2023, she obtained a temporary restraining order against him and accused him of domestic violence, alleging that Jackson had been "unhinged, volatile and dangerous to both me and our son." In January, Palmer told The Cut that there were "no other words" than domestic violence to describe her "toxic dynamic" with Jackson.
The month after their concert moment, Palmer starred in Usher's music video for his song "Boyfriend," in which he sang, "Somebody said that your boyfriend's looking for me."
Speaking on the "Baby, This Is Keke Palmer" podcast, Usher said he recruited Palmer for the video to create "something positive" and "fun" out of the situation.
"Let's do something that just takes their mind off of it and just have a good time," he remembered saying. "Don't focus on the drama."
Contributing: Naledi Ushe, KiMi Robinson