In 1999, the actress was crowned queen of the Veiled Prophet Ball, whose organizers banned Black and Jewish members
Twitter users were divided after a photo of actress Ellie Kemper being crowned the 1999 Queen of Love and Beauty at St. Louis’ Veiled Prophet Ball resurfaced According to a 2014 article in The Atlantic, the event’s organizers “emphasized the existing power structure” and banned Black and Jewish members. The social media divide started with a tweet: “So was no one gonna tell me Ellie Kemper aka Kimmy Schmidt was crowned KKK queen in 1999?” asked one user, posting an old newspaper photo of the actress in a white gown. The Veiled Prophet Ball has no known ties to the KKK, to be clear, although it has been targeted by Black Lives Matter in the past for what organizers see as its upholding of power structures in the area. The event, which is similar to a debutante ball in which parents present their children to society, has been around since the late 1870s and had an exclusionary past, according to the Atlantic piece.
