Actress Ellie Kemper has apologized for participating in a debutante ball hosted by a St. Louis organization that she now says had "an unquestionably racist, sexist and elitist past."
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Source: Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP
I wouldn t call myself a fan of actress Ellie Kemper, per se, but I enjoyed her work in
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt and Bridesmaids. When the recent controversy emerged, related to something she d done back in 1999, a quick perusal of the facts made clear that some of the incredibly ungenerous and hyperbolic headlines – linking her to segregation, the KKK, and the like – bore little resemblance to the facts of the case. The facts are these: As a 19-year-old college student and the daughter of a prominent banker, Kemper was crowned the winner of an annual debutante ball in the St. Louis area. The organization that put on the event has a racist past, but had integrated decades prior to Kemper s involvement. Here is how USA Today describes the gala in question:
Tituss Burgess has come to the defense of his âUnbreakable Kimmy Schmidtâ co-star
Ellie Kemper after she caught major heat for participating in a debutante ball as a teen that was hosted by an organization with an “unquestionably racist, sexist, and elitist past.âÂ
Kemper was named the queen of the ball with ties to white supremacy. The Broadway star, 42, publicly apologized this week on Instagram after photos surfaced of her being crowned at the St. Louisâ Veiled Prophet Ball in 1999. The âOfficeâ alum said that she didnât know the history of the debutante ball at the time.Â
âI was old enough to have educated myself before getting involved,â she said. âI unequivocally deplore, denounce, and reject white supremacy. At the same time, I acknowledge that because of my race and my privilege, I am the beneficiary of a system that has dispensed unequal justice and unequal rewards.”
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