Bill Murray finally denies ever dating Kelis: ‘Raised my cred a lot’

Bill Murray has finally clarified that he and Kelis never dated, almost two years after rumours of a romance between the two first emerged.

The Lost in Translation star, in an appearance on SiriusXM's Sway in the Morning podcast, recalled the rumours, which he said “really raised my cred a lot”.

“I was fascinated, I met this girl named Kelis. I got great press that I was dating her, which really raised my cred a lot,” Murray told hosts Sway Calloway, Heather B, and Tracy G.

Murray, 74, talked about meeting Kelis, 45, for the first time, saying that he loved the music video for rapper Ol' Dirty Bastard's 1999 song “Got Your Money” where Kelis sings the chorus.

“That song just kills me. I love that video. And I kept going, ‘That's the silliest thing. How did I miss that when it came out in the first place? It's so crazy.’ And I'm going, ‘Who is that girl with the red hair?’” he said.

“And it was Kelis, and I just had to meet her sometime. And she turned out to be spectacular.

“Actually, I spoke with her recently. She bought land in Kenya, in Africa. She's in Africa. She is not afraid of the dark. She just goes out there and goes, ‘Well, I think I'll just go to Africa and start a farm.’”

When Calloway asked Murray to confirm if he ever dated the “Milkshake” singer, he clarified that he hadn’t, but didn’t rule out the possibility of it in the future.

“Hey, you know, one of us could be on the rebound any second,” he said.

Rumours of a romance between Murray and Kelis sparked in June 2023, when the actor was spotted at two music festivals she was performing at. The pair were also seen together backstage, and multiple outlets reported that Murray and Kelis were dating.

Responding to a comment about the rumoured relationship on her social media in 2023, Kelis wrote: “Lol yeah maybe for now everyone’s dumb and will believe anything but the best part is we are both blessed, rich and happy. So who’s really laughing. Now that’s funny.”

To another fan who asked if she would “care to address these Bill Murray allegations”, she wrote: “Lol no babe, I wouldn’t bother at all.”

The Independent has reached out to representatives for Kelis for a comment.

At the time, fans were baffled by the rumours of the unlikely couple and reacted mostly with surprise, with one person joking: “This was NOT on my 2023 bingo card.”

Kelis has two children with her late husband Mike Mora, who died from stomach cancer in March 2022 at the age of 37, as well as another son with ex-husband Nas.

Meanwhile, Murray has been married twice. He was married to Margaret Kelly from 1981 to 1996 and shares sons Homer and Luke with her. He later married Jennifer Butler in 1997, but they split in 2008. Murray had sons Caleb, Jackson, Cooper, and Lincoln with costume designer Butler, who died in 2021 at the age of 54.