Keke Palmer gracefully dismissed a marriage proposal from a male fan with a simple yet firm "Nope." During a South by Southwest Festival panel on March 13th, an admirer knelt at the stage to ask the Hustlers actress for her hand in marriage. With her usual poise, Keke responded in true form:
"I can't marry you," she said, seated alongside her I Love Boosters costars. "I don't know you. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry, sir."
The audience chuckled at Keke's remarks, but the interaction soon turned serious as she inquired in shock, "Is this a prank?"
The man, still kneeling at the stage's foot with a ring in hand, caused visible discomfort among Keke's fellow actors—Demi Moore, Naomi Ackie, and Eiza Gonzalez. Eventually, the man was escorted out of the event by Keke's security team and event staff.
"Sorry guys, let's just take a deep breath," Keke said. "Much love to you, brother." After regaining her composure, the 32-year-old added, "We're back."
This awkward moment comes weeks after Keke—a mother of three-year-old son Leo with ex Darius Jackson—shared a delicate part of her romantic past: an "inappropriate" age gap relationship she experienced while starring on True Jackson, VP.
"I'm fifteen, why was my boyfriend 20?" Keke said on the March 3rd episode of her Baby, This is Keke Palmer podcast before her guest Demi Lovato chimed in, "Why was my boyfriend 30?"
"Girl, damn," Keke replied. "I'm not smiling at that but that is real. We were trying to find outlets and just a way to process this."
Now in her 30s, the Alice star recognizes the mistake of her past flame. "The moment when you realize and you get to the age of people that were around you and doing stuff," she added, "it's almost a mental break that can happen because you realize, 'You were taking advantage. Oh, I was being exploited.'"
Working as child actors from a young age, the pair also shared how their experiences made them feel a heightened sense of maturity.
"That was very difficult for me because at 15 I’m thinking like, ‘My boyfriend’s older because I’m doing an older job. And I’m doing a bunch of things and this is the way that it is,'" Keke explained. "And it seemed normal in my mind."
