Who is Pookie? Why the TikTok famous couple is facing controversy

In late January, Campbell Hunt Puckett went viral on TikTok thanks to a series of videos of her husband, Jett Puckett, praising her date night outfits, as well as other couple-centric content.

"Taking Pookie to a new spot tonight with three other couples and Pookie looks absolutely amazing. Good lord, babe — I love the all black," Jett Puckett told his wife in a Jan. 14 video.

Hoda Kotb and Jenna Bush Hager spoke about the couple on TODAY with Hoda & Jenna in late January. "There's a big debate. Are they cringe or adorable?" Hoda asked. She continued, "People are so into them and the compliments. I think it's always nice when your partner compliments you in front of others."

Just a few days after being, the influencer began making headlines for a different reason.

Campbell Puckett, 31, issued an apology on social media in February after photos surfaced that appeared to show her dressed in Antebellum-era clothing at a sorority event. TODAY.com has reached out to Campbell Puckett for comment.

After the pictures sparked outrage online, the TikTok star said she “fully” apologizes for the images and takes “full responsibility” for them.

Read on to learn more about Campbell Puckett, her husband, Jett Puckett and how she responded to the controversy over her recently unearthed photos.

Who are Campbell and Jett Puckett?

Campbell “Pookie” Puckett, 31, and Jett Puckett, 33, are a married couple living in Atlanta.

They are known for their posts showing their date night outfits, travel content and other snapshots of their daily lives, like trips to Waffle House and Chick-fil-a.

The Pucketts have been social media influencers for a while, but they blew up in popularity earlier this year when one video of Jett Puckett praising his wife's style went viral.

“Saturday night, going to Hal’s, our favorite steakhouse on the planet, and I gotta say, Pookie looks absolutely fire tonight,” Jett Puckett says in one TikTok video from Jan. 28 that has been viewed more than 6 million times. “Babe, I am just seeing your outfit for the first time. What are you wearing?”

Another earlier TikTok video they shared during a trip to Paris also went viral, racking up nearly 3 million views.

“Day three in Paris, and Pookie is wearing a quintessential Pookie outfit today,” Jett Puckett said in the Jan. 1 video. “Little known fact, I particularly love Pookie in a hat.”

Both of these videos quickly went viral and inspired countless parodies.

The video from Paris even inspired a Dunkin’ ad, which used the audio of Jett Puckett praising his wife’s “quintessential Pookie” look, as well as a recent TikTok ad from Southwest.

The couple met in March 2016, according to an earlier joint Instagram post sharing the details of their relationship.

At the time, Campbell Puckett was working as a flight attendant and Jett Puckett was in grad school.

“I walked up to the prettiest girl at a wine bar in Philadelphia and just started talking to her,” Jett Puckett explained in a TikTok video about their relationship. “Two days later we were inseparable, and 10 months later we were engaged.”

They tied the knot in April 2018.

Why is Campbell Puckett under fire?

Soon after the couple went viral on TikTok in January, a few photos that appeared to be old pictures of Campbell Puckett surfaced online and sparked controversy.

One of the photos that began making the rounds online appeared to show Campbell Puckett posing in front of a Confederate flag, as reported by The New York Times.

Another series of photos shared on Reddit on Jan. 28 appeared to show Campbell Puckett dressed in a frilly dress with a wide, hooped skirt, with other women in similar, old-fashioned outfits in the background.

Some people in the comments interpreted these outfits as pre-Civil War-era costumes, and guessed that Puckett had been attending an “Old South”-themed sorority event.

The photos sparked several heated reactions on Reddit. Some commenters accused Puckett of condoning racism and slavery by wearing an outfit that appeared to echo the clothing style worn by many wealthy white women in the South in the first half of the 19th century, when slavery was legal in the U.S.

“These types of parties essentially glorify the confederacy and are very much rooted in racism, so the whole situation is very yikes!” one person commented on Reddit.

“The girls at Old South parties are in hoop skirts, frill detailed gowns,” another person commented. “Who wore gowns in the antebellum south? What class of people? Wasn’t middle class or working class women. It was women with lots of money. How did people become rich in the south in antebellum America? Slave owners.”

“5th generation southerner here. I don’t care if it’s common, old south parties are morally reprehensible,” another person wrote in the comments. “There are literally thousands of other ways to get drunk in college without cosplaying as a slave owner.”

What has she said about the controversy?Campbell Puckett addressed the controversy in a statement shared to her Instagram story Feb. 1.

“As some of you may have seen, some old photos of mine recently resurfaced,” her apology began, according to a screenshot of the statement that was shared by People and other outlets.

“At the time these photos were taken, I was 20. I didn’t fully understand the impact of my actions the way I do now, 12 years later. I fully apologize for the harm this may have caused for some and take full responsibility,” the statement continued.

Puckett added that she and her husband “love sharing” their lives with fans and getting to know their “community on such an intimate level.”

“Because we live our lives so publicly, everything is on the internet, even my mistakes,” she continued. “We hope to continue to bring you with us on our journey as we continue to learn and grow.”

The influencer has shared a few posts on Instagram since issuing her apology, none of which have mentioned the controversy.

Jett Campbell, who was not pictured in any of the photos that sparked controversy (and who had not yet met Campbell when these photos were reportedly taken), has not commented publicly.

This article was originally published on TODAY.com