Unfortunately for Ellie Kemper, all hell has broken loose all over Twitter, thanks to a 22-year old photo which somehow managed to resurface, transforming her from Kimmy Schmidt to ‘KKK Queen’.
According to the photo, Kemper was crowned “Veiled Prophet Queen of Love and Beauty” at a debutante ball in St. Louis in 1999. What’s the problem with that? Well, the Veiled Prophet organisation is known to have racist and elitist origins.
Naturally the Twittersphere attempted to connect the dots, assuming that the organisation was affiialited with the KKK. But as history states, the Veiled Prophet organisation isn’t actually the KKK or affiliated with the KKK, it’s just elitist as hell. And has major culty vibes…
To be fair, the Twitter rampage isn’t totally unwarranted, because many have accused the organisation of being racist pretty much ever since it existed. It didn’t actually accept Black members until 1979. And civil rights activists had first begun picketing the event in the ’60s and ’70s.
People are falsely saying Ellie Kemper was in a KKK beauty pageant. The org reinforces the racist power structures that birthed it but also it’s not the KKK and was accepting Black members by the 70’s. Shit’s complicated, American institutions are racist. https://t.co/9q77MvJfQX
— Gone Fishin’ (@samthielman) June 1, 2021
As reported by BuzzFeed News reports, the fact that Kemper was actually a part of this institution isn’t actually new news. It’s old news. For example, it’s actually cited on her Wikipedia page as well as having been written about multiple times already, as recent as 2020 even.
They’ve also apparently attempted to make amends when it comes to their problematic past. Their event is now called the Fair Saint Louis (since the ’90s), changes that were made due to the consistent backlash they received from St. Louis residents.
The Veiled Prophet Organization issued a statement to BuzzFeed News, saying, “Our organization believes in and promotes inclusion, diversity and equality for this region. We absolutely reject racism and have never partnered or associated with any organization that harbors these beliefs.”
Ellie Kemper is yet to comment on the photo’s resurfacing. For more on this topic, follow the Film & TV Observer.
