KiKi Palmer was on stage at SXSW on Friday when a fan ran up to the stage and asked her to marry him.
Palmer was hosting a live recording of the podcast “Baby, This Is Kike Palmer” with his “I Love Boosters” co-stars Demi Moore, Naomi Ackie, Taylor Page, Poppy Liu and Eiza Gonzalez when the awkward encounter occurred. The man knelt on the ground, supporting the ring box on stage, and grinned. Palmer’s jaw dropped and his co-stars reacted with a mixture of surprise and laughter.
“I can’t marry you. I don’t know you. I’m so sorry, sir,” Palmer said, drawing laughter from the audience. When she asked if the proposal was a pre-planned prank, staff and audience members at the front shouted no, and someone yelled, “She needs security.” Her security appeared from backstage, and SXSW staff rose from the audience and both asked the men to leave. He knelt down and said, “She wants to say yes,” but several audience members yelled back, “No, she doesn’t.” In the end, Palmer was kicked out of the event, worrying about him and apologizing to his co-stars and the audience. “I feel sorry for this person,” Page laughed on stage, referring to the iconic meme featuring Palmer.
Palmer reiterated that he thought it was a prank and joked that he thought Ashton Kutcher’s hidden camera prank series “Punk’d” was back. She then encouraged everyone in the room to take a deep breath to refocus on the podcast conversation, and the audience applauded her.
“I Love Boosters” was the opening night movie at SXSW on Thursday. Palmer, writer/director Boots Riley, and the rest of the cast celebrated the film and a Variety cover story about Palmer at a party afterwards, where Palmer performed live.
