Shutterstock (2); Courtesy of Darius Daulton/Instagram
Keke Palmer Stars in Usher’s ‘Boyfriend’ Music Video After Darius Jackson Mom-Shamed Her
Keke Palmer clearly knows how to clap back, as the actress is starring in Usher’s music video for his single “Boyfriend” just weeks after her beau, Darius Daulton Jackson, publicly mom-shamed her.
Usher, 44, gave fans a glimpse at the upcoming video — which will be released on Wednesday, August 16 — in an Instagram post he shared on Tuesday, August 15. The clip featured scenes of Keke, 29, rocking blue hair streaks and mouthing the lyrics to his single while standing in front of a dressing room mirror. Usher playfully captioned his post, “When fantasies become reality.”
Fans quickly swarmed the comments section to praise the duo’s latest collab.
“This is petty,” one fan wrote with three laughing emojis, while another added, “This is the energy I needed from Keke! Come on baaaaaaby yaaaassss! That’s how you respond guuurl [sic].”
The lyrics of Usher’s song seemingly hint at tension between him and someone’s partner, as the “Yeah!” artist sings in the chorus, “Somеbody said that your boyfriend’s lookin’ for me / Oh, that’s cool, that’s cool / Well he should know I’m pretty easy to find /Just look for me wherever he sees you.”
One month earlier, Keke’s boyfriend, Darius, 29, took to Twitter (which has been rebranded as X) to call out the Nope actress for an outfit she wore while attending Usher’s concert in Las Vegas. Darius shared a video to the social media platform of Keke dancing with the Grammy Award winner on stage, wearing a sheer black dress and a matching one-piece jumpsuit underneath.
“It’s the outfit tho … you a mom,” Darius wrote in a since-deleted tweet.
Despite countless fans calling him out for mom-shaming Keke, Darius stood his ground and defended his comment in a separate since-deleted tweet.
“We live in a generation where a man of the family doesn’t want the wife [and] mother to his kids to showcase booty cheeks to please others [and] he gets told how much of a hater he is,” Darius wrote. “This is my family [and] my representation. I have standards [and] morals to what I believe. I rest my case.”
Hours later, Keke seemingly responded to Dalton’s commentary by sharing photos of herself wearing the black dress to Instagram. In her caption, the Nickelodeon alum noted that she wished she “had taken more pictures” of her wearing the trendy ensemble.
After the drama died down on social media, Usher weighed in about Darius’ comments during an interview on August 4.
“I think everybody’s vision or a version of what they felt happened there just leads you back to just really having a good time in Las Vegas,” the “U Got It Bad” singer noted. “And that’s what I hope came out of it. Rather, it was a conversation of what was going on with us having fun in front of the audience or conversation about that song.”
Usher continued by admitting that “every night,” he thinks “about how the world now is going to react” to a moment he has with “whoever [he is] choosing to sing to.”
“But it was a pop moment,” he insisted, before adding, “And it was fun to have at least [a] conversation going and we just keep it light. I don’t see anything negative happening in Las Vegas.”
