Keke Palmer has shown that sometimes music is the best way to respond to public relationship drama.
The actor and singer stars in Usher’s music video for his new song, “Boyfriend,” released on Wednesday. The song and video are an apparent response to the internet drama involving Palmer’s boyfriend, Darius Jackson, who publicly mom-shamed her in July.
The video begins with Palmer getting ready for a night out with friends in Las Vegas while Usher seems to be getting ready to perform a show.
Palmer pays tribute to Usher’s music career in various moments throughout the video. At one point, she sang his 2001 song “U Remind Me” in an elevator, and later in the video, she recreated his choreography from his music video for the song “U Don’t Have to Call,” released the same year. The “Nope” actor even recreated Usher’s look from the “U Don’t Have to Call” video, which included a brown leather jacket over a white T-shirt with a chain.
At the end of the video, Palmer wakes up to a phone call in bed, realizing that she had, in fact, dreamt of her entire dance choreography and missed Usher’s show. She cheekily turns to the camera and says: “Damnit, I missed the show. I’m so tired. I’m a mother… after all.”
Palmer celebrated the video on Twitter (now known as “X”), explaining that she had been a longtime fan of Usher and even auditioned for the 2005 movie “In The Mix” that he starred in.
“You have been killing it all my life,” she wrote about Usher. “As a true lover of the arts, your talent and craftsmanship are a rare combination that I aspire to achieve as a performer. You are a living legend who is worthy of awe! Thank you for encouraging me and seeing me as the entertainer I am.”
She continued, “I know I’m a gUrL, but when I watched your videos, I never wanted to be the girl in them, I wanted to be YOU. Thank you for making a dream come true.”
Rebecca Sapp via Getty Images
Palmer and Usher’s collaboration for the “Boyfriend” music video nods to the stir Jackson created online when he criticized Palmer for wearing a sheer Givenchy dress and bodysuit to Usher’s Vegas show.
Jackson shared a video on Twitter of the R&B legend serenading Palmer at the concert, writing: “It’s the outfit tho.. you a mom.”
He doubled down in a follow-up tweet: “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.”
“This is my family & my representation,” he continued. “I have standards & morals to what I believe. I rest my case.”
The current status of Palmer and Jackson’s relationship is unclear. The two welcomed a son, Leodis, in February.
Palmer’s appearance in the “Boyfriend” video marks the first time she somewhat directly addressed the tweets. However, she has subtly responded to the ordeal on a few occasions on social media.
Clearly, she remains unbothered.
Usher helped promote the new song and video on Instagram, writing in the caption of the post: “Nothing that happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.”