Keke Palmer gets the last laugh in Usher’s “Boyfriend” music video

We are currently living through an era of Peak Celebrity Mess, the effects of which could literally impact international relations for years to come—depending on how hard Justin Trudeau leans into his bachelor era, at least. Between Ariana and Spongebob, Scandoval, Elon vs. Zuck, and all those big breakups, it might have been easy to forget another scandal that played out very publicly on social media in early July. After today though, two parties involved have assured that no one ever forgets it again.

The players: Keke Palmer, her presumably still current (although maybe not after this morning) boyfriend and father to her child Darius Jackson, and internationally-known R&B singer Usher.

The mess: back in July, Palmer posted a video from one of Usher’s Vegas residency shows on social media (the video has since been deleted). The video showed her dancing with the “My Boo” singer and generally having a great time while wearing a sheer black dress with a body suit underneath. Jackson did not like this and subsequently made it everyone’s business. In a since-deleted quote tweet of the video, he posted a now infamous call-out—“It’s the outfit tho.. you a mom”—along with a separate rant about how “we live in a generation where a man of the family doesn’t want the wife & mother to his kids to showcase booty cheeks to please others… he gets told how much of a hater he is.”

Now, Usher and Palmer have responded with an absolutely ace airing out of their own. Enter: “Boyfriend”—Usher’s new music video starring… you guessed it… Keke Palmer.

“Somebody said that your boyfriend’s looking for me,” the song begins, before describing the exact sort of emotional affair primed to get under someone like Jackson’s skin. The whole video is an exercise in hall of fame-level pettiness. The outfit? A tight black dress. The setting? Las Vegas, obviously. But in case you thought these two were making any attempts at subtlety whatsoever, you can rest easy. “I’m a mother… after all,” Palmer says before literally winking at the camera at the end. Good luck getting over this one, Darius. Seems like you’ll need it.