Keke Palmer Accused Of ‘Poverty Shaming’ After Suggesting EBT Cards Only Work On Healthy Items, Actress Receives Immediate Backlash

Celebrities aren’t as in vogue these days, especially after coming out of a tumultuous election season in the US. The 2020 US Election saw a number of celebrities taking a stand along political lines and the actions are still reverberating. KeKe Palmer’s gotten caught up in divisive Twitter outrage, despite the fact that she’s been a very vocal activist.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by BIG BOSS 🔑🔑 (@keke) on Oct 13, 2020 at 7:33am PDT

The country started to change inevitably because of the pandemic and subsequent lockdown but the uprisings around the country also seemed to have attributed to a shift. With a Biden win being declared and him openly declaring that Black people powered his win, it starts to feel as if all of the work done this summer in the streets and organizing has had some impact.

Earlier this year, Palmer, surrounded by a crowd, vocally jousted with National Guardsmen in hopes they would march with people who had taken to the streets during the uprisings, instead of policing them. The Emmy-nominated and former daytime talk show host of Strahan, Sara and Keke on ABC used her visibility to aid the crowds in hopes of helping to keep them safe.

Encountering National Guardsmen who seemed to be open to hearing what she had to say, cameras came out and started recording.

“March beside us. You get your people. March beside us. March beside us. Let the revolution be televised,” Keke can be heard pleading to the National Guardsman. A pair of them can be seen in the clip, seemingly both listening but also being indifferent to their requests and questions. The guardsman listening to her declined the invitation and can be heard saying that he “can’t leave this post.”

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by BIG BOSS 🔑🔑 (@keke) on Sep 4, 2020 at 12:00pm PDT

Unfortunately, in the end their goals weren’t achieved – though Palmer did get the Guardsmen to take a knee, in the style of Colin Kaepernick’s silent NFL protest that has become a symbol all around the world. Palmer then replied “that ain’t enough for me,” even after the Guardsmen can be seen kneeling with one of his squad.

Opinions have turned against KeKe however, after she tweeted a comment about food stamps/EBT that became part of a larger discussion – and dragging.

Imagine if your EBT card could only work on healthy items …. 👀👀👀👀

— Keke Palmer (@KekePalmer) November 9, 2020

“Imagine if your EBT card could only work on healthy items…,” the actress tweeted – part of a larger discussion that she had been engaging in with her fans earlier in the morning, apparently.

Immediately, people began to accuse the actress of classicsm and being tone deaf because as a celebrity, she has more access to the resources that would allow her to eat what she desires – and not be policed. Others accused of her “poverty shaming,” and called her very out of touch. And the tweets got worse from there.

This ain’t it Keke.

Healthy items aren’t always accesible or affordable. People on food stamps should be allowed to eat what ever they want. Who are you to police what someone else is doing with their benefits?

This comment was very out of touch. https://t.co/RCNbbD3Wgn

— Jaclyn 🦋 (@J_Byrddd) November 9, 2020

Of course, Palmer spent a considerable amount of time defending her position – at one point, even taking the discussion to her Instagram account to facilitate a larger dialogue, and add more context in defense of herself.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by BIG BOSS 🔑🔑 (@keke) on Nov 9, 2020 at 5:09am PST

“Added for context: I have been eating extremely healthy lately and I have been sad about my debit card balance because of it,” she wrote on a lengthy Instagram post. In the end, it was a Twitter user who encapsulated KeKe’s initial intentions behind her tweet, while also letting her know it was poorly worded from the jump.

Palmer responded, “Hahaha yes! I don’t wanna encourage nothing harmful to folks s**t let’s all decide,” she replied. “I’m into the discussion!”

Mama this is a bit different than what you said at first. If this is the plan: EBT AND free healthy foods (yay). If the plan is EBT ONLY for healthy food it’s a little…..poverty shaming. I’m gonna decide the first one is what you meant. https://t.co/i1CuYppVOS

— ✨🌻 Lock, Shock, and Barrel’s Fav Auntie 🌻✨ (@BraveBird131) November 9, 2020