The Big Picture
The brand of Love & Marriage: Huntsville has gone from promoting successful Black families to celebrating extreme family dysfunction. The series began with three successful families working together to on real estate investment and construction. It wasn’t long before audiences realized the drama within each family unit was much juicier than the front the couples attempted to push with their business endeavors. Star couple Melody and Martel Holt dominated trending headlines on gossip blogs for the first five seasons of the show as their #PowerCouple persona unraveled into a painful divorce by way of an illegitimate child and mud-slinging child custody battle. The last two seasons of the reality show have showcased Melody turning her pain into power while Martel has focused on changing his buzzwords from womanizing philanderer to responsible father. Martel may have been granted a reprieve this season by Keke Jabbar’s presence on the show.
Keke joined the cast two seasons ago as LaTisha Scott’s meddling cousin. The mid-season premiere shows that Keke has not only managed to secure a spot as a main cast member, but she’s also managed to secure her own storyline independent of her cousin. Footage from Huntsville’s local police department requesting assistance leading to the arrest of Keke found its way to the season 6 mid-season premiere. She is wanted for allegedly stealing from a local home goods store in Huntsville, a shocking accusation as it comes after she was cast as a regular on the series. Martel was villainized for creating pornographic videos of his wife, but the videos that have surfaced of Keke are just as shocking.
Keke’s Alleged Crime Has the Cast Shook
While most scandals on reality TV focus on rumors, or he-said she-said gossip, Keke is working against incriminating footage of her stealing goods from a local Huntsville store. Cameras in the parking lot depict a car that allegedly belongs to Keke hurriedly fleeing the scene of the crime. Adding insult to injury, the other members of Huntsville are sharing various clips of the videos from the Huntsville police department trying to play detective. Resident gossiper Tiffany Whitlow suggests Keke is bad for business and questions Melody on her commitment to her own personal brand if she is consorting with a known criminal. Melody attempts to remain neutral but acknowledges that presently Keke is a “hot mess” and needs to get herself together.
Keke’s cousin LaTisha has less sympathy than Melody and says the recent turn of events proves that her cousin needs to put her big girl pants on and work on her own life without looking for help from others. It’s not surprising that LaTisha feels that way because Keke’s entrance to the show was based on leveraging gossip about her own family and sharing it with Latisha’s then-nemesis, Melody. In a disjointed conversation with Melody, Keke maintained she was accused of stealing but hasn’t been convicted. She also shared she’d spent time in the hospital and was struggling to get her business back in order after several situations have left her unable to focus.
Keke Appears to Be This Season’s Focal Point
Whether Keke will be convicted of theft or not remains to be seen, but what is certain is that this season of Love & Marriage: Huntsville will continue to deliver the toxic family behavior that continues delivering top ratings for OWN. We can also be certain the entire thing will play out on camera allowing fans of the show to indulge in the inevitable train wreck that is Keke. If that’s not enough fodder for the blogs, there are suggestions that the five-year-old rumors claiming infidelity in LaTisha and Marsau’s marriage will finally be proven this season. And there’s a lot more going on with their co-stars also to keep the drama even.
Tiffany and Louis Whitlow welcomed an adorable baby boy securing their placement as audiences enjoy watching the two navigate being new parents. But even Kimmi and Maurice Scott’s marriage has suffered significant damage due to his reaction to her journey to become cancer-free. Stormy and Courtney Steele are the only couple that seems solid this season but the one rule in the world of Carlos King and Kingdom Reign entertainment is that no marriages are immune to scandal and or separation. If this all sounds very confusing, yet your interest is piqued, then that’s further proof that you need to tune in to OWN every Saturday evening at 8 PM EST for the show. Only executive producer, King, could’ve predicted there was so much entertaining scandal in a little town like Huntsville, buried in Alabama, but we are here for it!
