Fact Check: Was Keke Palmer's sister killed by a Metra train? Viral tweet debunked

A recent post by Keke Palmer on X, formerly Twitter, reacting to a photo of herself from another X account confounded social media users after the actress claimed the image was of her sister killed by a Metra train and asked it to be taken down.

It all began on Monday, December 18, 2023, when Palmer's hairdresser Glizzy Mcguire posted a stunning picture of the actress, tagged her make-up artist, and wrote, “Me & @basedkenken DON’T F**K AROUND! We get down!”

Glizzy Mcguire Tweet (Image via Twitter)

Reacting to the tweet, Palmer quipped that the person in the picture was her sister, who was killed by a Metra train, and asked the user to take down the photo.

“Excuse me, ma’am, not to be disrespectful or rude but could you please take the post down. That is my sister who was killed by a Metra train. And this post is very disrespectful. Idk who you are or if you even know her but I need you to take this down please.”

In response to the actress' tweet, social media erupted with comments wondering if Palmer's sister was killed by a Metra train. Keke Palmer’s sister was not killed by a Metra train. The actress’ tweet was a regurgitation of a bizarre online trend that began making its rounds two years ago.

The actress was merely quoting the 'Baby, This is Keke Palmer' Metra Train Meme of 2020.

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'Baby, This is Keke Palmer' Metra Train Meme explained

On June 21, 2020, @TrixieNumba9 shared a photo of Keke Palmer during an Akeelah and the Bee press conference, writing, "All the girls that looked like this in high school could suck a mean d--k."

Shortly after, the Twitter user received a direct message from an individual who said:

"Excuse me, ma'am, not to be disrespectful or rude but could you please take the post down. That is my sister who was killed by a Metra train. And this post is very disrespectful. Idk who you are or if you even know her but I need you to take this down please."

In response, the bemused Twitter user @TrixieNumba9 posted a video reading the bizarre DM and said, "Baby, this is Keke Palmer."

Shortly after, the response spread like wildfire and birthed a new trend where social media users began responding to posts of unrelated images of people by claiming it was their sister killed by a train.

Users who were well-acquainted with the genesis of the joke then replied with, "Baby, this is Keke Palmer," even when the actress was not in the photo.

The trend went viral in 2021 after actress Halle Berry responded to a sepia photo of the Nope actress with the caption, "My granny had such a vibe in the 1940s," saying, "Baby, that's Keke Palmer."

While Palmer was jumping on the bandwagon of another social media trend where people shared black and white or sepia photos of modern pop culture figures claiming them to be their ancestors, Halle Berry was referencing the 2020 'Baby, This is Keke Palmer' Metra Train meme.

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Two years after the viral moment, the trend was revived by Palmer after she responded to a tweet with a photo of herself and claimed it was her sister killed by a Meta Train. Some social media users were baffled by the claim.

However, others were quick on the uptake and pointed out that the response was in reference to the viral 2021 trend.

Meanwhile, Palmer‘s ex-partner, Darius Jackson, filed a response to the actress’ request for a domestic violence restraining order by claiming he was abused.