Usher is finally breaking his silence on the viral moment that had Keke Palmer’s boyfriend, Darius Jackson in an uproar. In an exclusive interview with PEOPLE, the r&b singer commented on the situation saying it was “a pop moment” and “worth talking about.”
“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. 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,” he says.
Adding, “Every night I’m thinking about how the world now is going to react to this moment that I’ll have with whoever I’m choosing to sing to. But it was a pop moment, and it was fun to have at least conversation going and we just keep it light. I don’t see anything negative happening in Las Vegas.”
As we previously reported, the father of Keke Palmer’s son was getting dragged on social media for recent comments he made regarding her clothing. Her boyfriend, fitness instructor Darius Jackson, was apparently not a fan of the footage showing Palmer in a fitted black body suit with a sheer overlay dancing with Usher as he sang to her. “It’s the outfit tho..you a mom,” he tweeted. After receiving tons of backlash he responded with a follow up tweet saying, “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,” he wrote in another tweet. “This is my family & my representation. I have standards & morals to what I believe. I rest my case.”
Palmer gave birth five months ago to Leodis “Leo” Andrellton Jackson, whom she shares with Jackson. The 29-year-old “Nope” star and Jackson are not married, and after receiving backlash, it appeared he had deleted his Twitter account. But he soon hopped back on to share a cryptic message using Kanye West’s verse from the song “forever” featuring Drake.
Keke Palmer recently released an episode of her podcast which featured her boyfriend, but the episode was recorded before their meltdown on the internet. During that podcast, Darius admitted that he holds Keke Palmer to a perfect standard. “At first, it definitely was hard because it could all be very overwhelming. It was definitely overwhelming and intense at first,” he said.
“And it’s like, you almost feel that pressure of needing to be perfect,” Jackson continued. “And so, it really confused me and infiltrated my mind because not only did I have to hold myself to that perfect standard, I was also holding you to a perfect standard as well.” He added, “So, any moment of flaw on my side or on your side it was World War III because it’s like…” “— And now the world sees us,” Palmer commented.