Why A Resurfaced 1999 Pageant Queen Pic Is Making Ellie Kemper Trend For All The Wrong Reasons

Wondering why Ellie Kemper is trending on Twitter? I’ll tell ya why, because she has been linked to a pageant that allegedly has a very racist origin story.

Fans dug up an article by The Atlantic from 2014 that reveals she entered and won a debutante ball back in 1999 called the Veiled Prophet Ball when she was 19. The annual event is held in St. Louis and its name was changed to Fair Saint Louis in 1992.

The club itself allegedly has a history of racism as Black members were not allowed to join the organisation until 1979.

According to the article, it was founded by “wealthy white elites” back in 1877 and “emphasised the existing power structure.”

At each ball, an anonymous person played the “Veiled Prophet” and that person, who was hand-picked by local “elites”, got to choose the Queen of Love and Beauty at each ball, a title earned by Ellie Kemper back in 1999, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

The article, which was written in December 1999, says Ellie Kemper was “the 105th young woman to be so honoured by the Veiled Prophet organisation. She wore a white satin square-neck gown designed by Tomasina and purchased at Saks Fifth Avenue.”

There’s even a photo appearing to show Ellie Kemper, who has starred in The Office and The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, being crowned at the event. The “Veiled Prophet Ball” is still held every year.

Folks on Twitter have voiced their disdain over the fact that Ellie Kemper would associate with an organisation that allegedly has a racist past.

https://twitter.com/rafalafaaa/status/1399485923528564736?s=20

However, there have also been people who have pointed out that her participation in the pageant does not prove that she has outwardly racist ties:

Ellie Kemper has yet to respond to the public outcry.

We at PEDESTRIAN.TV are not implying that Ellie Kemper has racist ties.

Matty Galea is the Senior Entertainment Editor at Pedestrian who also dabbles in woo-woo stuff like astrology and crystals and has been penning horoscopes since the start of his career. He also Tweets about pop culture and astrology and posts spicy content on Instagram.

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