Photos of actress Ellie Kemper winning a beauty contest in Missouri in 1999 recently surfaced, and there has to be something problematic about that. Right?

Which one will it be today, folks? Was winning this beauty contest sexist? Homophobic? Transphobic? Racist? Probably all of the above... but what A.V. Club is telling us is that this reveals Kemper's "racist past."

"You might be wondering what's so wrong about being crowned queen of some ball. Well, the Fair Saint Louis was previously known as the Veiled Prophet Ball and it is racist as f***," Tatiana Tenreyro writes.

Don't miss this sleight of hand. The article is titled, "Oh great, Ellie Kemper is yet another rich white celebrity with a racist past." However, in the body of the article, it's talking about how the beauty contest has a racist past, not Kemper.

Do you know what we call that over here on Not The Bee? We call that "bearing false witness."

"The Atlantic reported in 2014 that the Veiled Prophet Organization initially barred Black and Jewish people from joining. It's an organization for the white elites of Missouri, and there's a Veiled Prophet parade that happens every year where a debutante is given the honor of top rich white girl. As Jezebel reported last year, the parade was started in 1878 by a Confederate officer named Alonzo Slayback—so it's always had racist connotations."

So, let me get this straight: Because the contest had an apparently racist origin from 143 years ago, Ellie Kemper was racist when she won it in 1999 when she was 19 years old.

"At that age, teenagers are mature enough to know what they're being part of," Tenreyro writes. "She hasn't released a statement yet, but here's hoping she at least understands why people are upset over her participation in an event rooted in white supremacy."

I'm not sure anyone thinking clearly understands why people are upset over Kemper winning that beauty contest. And Tenreyro's article certainly didn't prove anything about Kemper's alleged "racist past."

She won the contest 121 years after it was made, for crying out loud! Can you at least show me how the beauty contest was supposedly racist in the same year, decade, or century that she won it?! And can you demonstrate how that proves that Ellie herself has a racist past? That shouldn't be too much to ask if you're going to accuse someone.

I really hope Kemper doesn't apologize for winning that contest because she doesn't need to apologize for anything. The losers that are slandering her are the ones who need to issue the apology letters.

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