British R&B singer KWN has found herself at the centre of an unexpected social media storm after her comments about American television star Keke Palmer have resurfaced.

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The singer has now addressed the backlash in an apology video post via her social media. In the video, KWN attempts to clear up the situation surrounding her previous comments about Palmer, explaining her side of the story after social media users began questioning the singer's original claims.

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The apology comes after KWN’s earlier comments about Palmer sparked renewed attention online, with fans dissecting exactly what the singer meant. She explained that it was down to "wrong choice of words." The saga actually goes back to an interview KWN did with Angie Martinez last year and during the interview, KWN was asked who her celebrity crush was with her answer being Keke Palmer. She went on to describe Palmer as “funny,” “sweet” and “pretty,” agreeing that her personality was part of the attraction. At the time, the answer seemed pretty straightforward only to later find out that there was more to the story.

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Fast-forward to this week where KWN sat down in an  interview with Complex, and gave an explanation that completely changed the conversation. When asked about her previous answer, she said naming Palmer had been “kind of a joke” and claimed that the answer had actually been suggested by her team.

“My team told me to say her name.”

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According to KWN, Palmer was essentially considered a safe answer — someone who was popular, well-liked and unlikely to cause controversy. However the conversation shifted once KWN mentioned her actual celebrity crush being Euphoria star Alexa Demie describing her as “something special” and just like that, the internet had a new chapter to discuss.

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Some people saw KWN',s comments as an innocent explanation of an awkward interview moment. Others questioned the decision to use Palmer's name in the first place, particularly given the way the original answer had been presented. Social media users have also connected the controversy to wider conversations about colourism and representation. However, those discussions reflect interpretations and opinions from social media users online rather than confirmed statements about KWNs intentions.

One user said:

So, your team told you to say you had a crush on a dark skinned black woman (Keke Palmer), but in all actuality your crush is someone with a completely different phenotype? Yikes.

Another added:

Someone on their team understands that with kwn being lightskin, insinuating that their usual type is DS black women will scratch the itch a lot of insecure BW need to be found desirable by people that don’t typically go for them, and i think that’s sad/gross. but alas :)

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So far, Palmer has not directly addressed the controversy however, she did post a series of photos on Instagram with Ray J's “Brown Sugar” playing in the back with the caption:

“Yea yea yea yea yea yea yea 🤎✨.”

The timing immediately caught the internet’s attention as users started speculating whether this was a response or just a coincidence. There has been no confirmation that the post was about KWN.

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