THIS IS NOT OKAY!!!

THIS IS NOT OKAY!!!!

British R&B singer kwn previously named Keke Palmer as her celebrity crush, but has now revealed in an interview with Complex that the comment was actually a “joke.” According to kwn, her team encouraged her to name Keke at the time. She later mentioned Alexa Demie, who plays Maddy in Euphoria, as someone who is genuinely more her type.

To be clear, having a personal preference or a different type is not the issue. The problem is publicly reducing a woman you previously presented as your crush to a joke, especially when you could simply explain your actual preference without putting someone else down in the process.

And because Keke is a dark-skinned Black woman, the situation also raises uncomfortable questions about colorism. In a society where darker-skinned Black women have historically faced harmful stereotypes about beauty, desirability, and worth, comments like these can understandably be viewed through that lens.

Nobody is saying kwn has to be attracted to Keke Palmer. Attraction is personal, and everyone is entitled to their preferences.

But Keke never needed to become the punchline for kwn to explain who she is actually attracted to. There was a way to clarify her type without making a woman—especially a dark-skinned Black woman—the joke