Keke Palmer Declines Surprise Onstage Proposal at SXSW, Fan Removed

Keke Palmer was midway through a live recording of her podcast "Baby, This Is Keke Palmer" at the JW Marriott Austin when a male audience member rushed to the front of the stage, dropped to one knee, and propped an engagement ring box against the stage edge. He grinned up at her. Palmer's jaw dropped.

"I can't marry you. I don't know you. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry, sir," Palmer said. The audience laughed, then the room shifted. Palmer called the man "sweet" before asking, visibly unsettled, "Is this a prank?" Staffers and audience members in the front rows immediately confirmed it was not.

Palmer was not alone onstage. Seated beside her for the Friday morning session were her "I Love Boosters" co-stars Demi Moore, Naomi Ackie, Taylour Paige, Poppy Liu, and Eiza González, all of whom had joined the SXSW featured session to promote the film. Moore, Ackie, and González were visibly stunned. Someone in the audience shouted "She needs security." Palmer's security guard emerged from backstage while an SXSW staffer rose from the audience, both moving toward the man and asking him to leave.

He stayed on his knees. "She wants to say yes," he told the room. Several audience members shouted back, "No she doesn't." After a brief back-and-forth in which he refused to move from the front of the stage, he was physically removed to a chorus of boos.

Palmer steadied the room as he was escorted out. "Sorry guys, let's just take a deep breath," she said. "Much love to you, brother." Taylour Paige, watching the scene resolve, turned to the crowd and said "Sorry to this man," a line drawn from one of Palmer's most widely circulated internet memes, which landed somewhere between comic relief and genuine bewilderment.

SXSW spokesman Brett Cannon told the Austin American-Statesman that the festival had no information "suggesting the individual's intent" before the incident. The man had been attending on a Platinum badge, which carries a walk-up rate of $2,095. SXSW revoked the credential before he was escorted from the premises. No sources have reported any arrest or criminal charges in connection with the incident.

A video of the exchange was obtained and posted by TMZ. Palmer did not appear to recognize the man at any point during the encounter.