Who is Keke Palmer’s boyfriend, and does he prove that men from Philly are ‘embarrassing’? We investigate.
If you’ve scoured the internet the past few days, you’ve likely seen the drama between Keke Palmer and her boyfriend Darius Jackson.
Jackson made headlines after he slammed the actress on Twitter for wearing a fitted outfit for an Usher concert in Las Vegas, where Palmer was seen being serenaded by the R&B star. Many Palmer fans claimed the comments were motivated by insecurity or jealousy. But a local TikToker has another theory.
On Thursday, Philly native Cierra Williams took to the video-sharing app, claiming Jackson’s “embarrassing” antics are because of his ties to Philly.
“That man is from Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania,” she said in the video, which has amassed nearly 500,000 views and over 90,000 likes.
“It’s nothing we can do but send Ms. Palmer some love, light, and prosperity because if there’s one thing a man from Philly is going to do, it’s be embarrassing. They can’t help it. They don’t got no impulse control.”
(While news outlets have reported that Jackson is from Philadelphia, The Inquirer wasn’t able to confirm that. His family does have close ties to the city and his social media is filled with displays of Phillies and Eagles fandom. The fitness instructor even has a tattoo of the Love sculpture!)Also worth noting: Jackson briefly deleted his instagram but has reinstated it, without pictures of Palmer, leaving their relationship status unclear.
The Inquirer spoke to Williams and asked if men from Philly (Jackson included) are really as bad as she claims. The conversation has been edited for brevity and clarity.
What’s your perspective on the drama between Palmer and her boyfriend Darius Jackson?
It’s just a control thing. If she’s the breadwinner and powerful one in the relationship, then he’s probably thinking, ‘Where does that leave me?’ I feel like that’s something men struggle with a lot times. Instead of bringing it up with her, he decided to tell us on Twitter like it was our business. And that was his first mistake.
But why drag Philly men into this? What makes them embarrassing?
I feel like it’s twofold. On one hand, their brains only have capacity for sports, like “Go Birds,” the Eagles, the Phillies, and the Sixers. That’s one part of it, and the other part is a lot of times they don’t have the space to be themselves. So, it just makes them very strange because they have a different persona than who they are.
Who would you say is the perfect example of an embarrassing Philly man?
I feel like the main thing everyone needs to know is that Meek Mill took a picture with fries on his lap at the pool. I don’t know what else we need to talk about. He also posted a video of him [on Instagram] about to throw up in a toilet, and put the caption, ‘Too much liquor smh...’ with his hands crawling and grasping for life. There’s nothing else we need to discuss.
Why do you think people dragged Jackson’s tweets?
[Palmer] has always had a real positive image. She’s never really been in drama, so it was really weird that he would try to tarnish her image that she’s worked so hard to build. She’s been a child star and now an adult star, so trying to ruin that is insane.
Do you think Jackson tweeted that out to gain attention. Or, was he unsure how to address the situation?
It was that small percentage of the Philly in him that decided, ‘I’m not in a good mood, so you won’t be in a good mood.’ I think that was really it. I don’t think there was even that much of a thought process. I don’t think he’s that vindictive in that sense. I think he just woke up and wanted her to have a bad day because she was having fun with Usher.
What do Philly guys have to say about the theory that they are just embarrassing? One Philly-based male on Twitter put it best when retweeting Williams:
“That’s right Go Birds.”