Skai Jackson spent most of her childhood as one of Disney Channel’s most recognizable young stars, and audiences watched her grow up on screen. So when the actress became a mother in early 2025, it should have been a simple, joyful milestone. Instead, her personal life turned into national news, driven by a turbulent relationship, a restraining order, and a series of arrests involving the father of her child. The story that unfolded over the following months was complicated, painful, and often distorted by online rumor.
This article walks through what has actually been reported about Skai Jackson, her son’s father Deondre Burgin, and the legal events that surrounded them, while separating the confirmed facts from the speculation that has clouded the picture.
Who Is Skai Jackson?
Skai Jackson is an American actress who first became famous as a child. Born in New York City in 2002, she rose to prominence playing Zuri Ross on the hit Disney Channel sitcom Jessie, which aired from 2011 to 2015, and later reprised the role in its spinoff series Bunk’d. She went on to compete on Dancing with the Stars and built a substantial social-media following, evolving from a beloved child actress into a young adult celebrity and influencer. By the time she welcomed her first child in January 2025, she was twenty-two years old and one of the more familiar faces of her generation of former Disney stars.
Meet Deondre Burgin, the Rapper Known as “Yerkky Yerkky”
The father of Skai Jackson’s son is Deondre Burgin, a rapper who performs and posts online under the alias “Yerkky Yerkky.” His name appears in many spellings across the internet, but they all refer to the same person. Burgin was reported to be twenty-one during the events of 2025, making him slightly younger than Jackson. Away from the headlines, verified information about his life is limited; he kept a fairly low profile online, and much of what circulates about his background is unconfirmed. The parts of his story that are well documented are the ones that played out publicly through his relationship with Jackson, the birth of their son, and his repeated encounters with law enforcement.
How Their Relationship Began
According to widely repeated reporting, Jackson and Burgin first began communicating while he was incarcerated. Several outlets have reported that the two exchanged letters during his time in prison and that Jackson later helped bail him out, though neither has publicly confirmed the complete timeline of how they met and grew close. What is clear is that the relationship became serious enough to produce a child, and, by many accounts, it was marked by conflict from an early stage. The details of its beginning remain a mix of reported claims rather than an officially confirmed narrative, which is worth keeping in mind when reading the many versions of the story online.
The Birth of Baby Kasai
Skai Jackson announced the birth of her son on Instagram on January 26, 2025, sharing a tender photo of herself holding the newborn’s hands and revealing his name: Kasai. She had confirmed her pregnancy publicly only about two months earlier, in November 2024. For a period during 2025, Jackson and Burgin appeared to be trying to co-parent, and she even posted a warm birthday tribute to him, thanking him for being a good father to their son. That stretch of apparent calm, however, did not hold. The relationship was on and off, and it ultimately ended during the same year, giving way to a far more public and troubling chapter.
A Relationship Marked by Conflict and Arrests
The couple’s history was punctuated by legal incidents long before the restraining order. In August 2024, the two were involved in an altercation at Universal CityWalk in Hollywood. Then, just one day after Jackson publicly confirmed her pregnancy in November 2024, Burgin was jailed in Cincinnati, Ohio, reportedly for attempting to evade arrest, which authorities treated as a parole violation. By the time Kasai was born in January 2025, Burgin was reported to still be behind bars. His legal troubles continued into the spring, when he was arrested again on April 17, 2025, at a gas station in Kentucky after an officer connected him to an outstanding misdemeanor warrant out of Ohio tied to a vehicle-registration issue and a missed court date.
The Restraining Order and Disturbing Allegations
The situation reached a turning point in May 2025. Jackson filed for a restraining order in Los Angeles County Superior Court on May 19, citing an alleged assault on Mother’s Day, May 11, along with a broader pattern of abuse. A judge granted her a temporary restraining order the same day, requiring Burgin to stay at least one hundred yards away from Jackson, their son, and her home, and she also asked the court to order him into a domestic-violence intervention program and to establish a child-support arrangement. In her filing, obtained by outlets including USA TODAY, PEOPLE, and TMZ, Jackson described a roughly six-month period of alleged weekly abuse in 2024 and recounted deeply disturbing claims, including an allegation that Burgin demanded she drink bleach to end her pregnancy and threatened her at knifepoint. It is important to stress that these are allegations contained in a legal filing rather than proven facts; Burgin publicly denied them, at one point suggesting an online account had been hacked and accusing Jackson of spreading falsehoods about him.
Did Skai Jackson Go to Jail?
One of the most persistent questions surrounding this story is whether Skai Jackson herself was jailed, and the answer is no. The confusion traces back to the August 2024 altercation at CityWalk. Jackson was arrested at the time on suspicion of domestic battery against Burgin, reportedly after surveillance footage appeared to show her pushing him. However, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office declined to file charges, citing insufficient evidence for trial and taking into account her clean record. In other words, she was briefly arrested in connection with a single incident, was never prosecuted, and is not incarcerated. The many online claims suggesting otherwise misrepresent what actually happened.
Deondre Burgin’s Escalating Legal Troubles
Burgin’s legal problems grew far more serious in the summer of 2025. In mid-July, he was arrested on allegations connected to an armed carjacking and robbery in Cincinnati. He was taken into custody in Newport, Kentucky, on July 14, booked on July 17, and then extradited to Hamilton County, Ohio, in a case that reportedly involved an FBI Safe Streets Task Force alongside local police. A Kentucky prosecutor indicated that Burgin did not resist and waived his extradition hearing. These developments represented a significant escalation, but it is essential to be precise about their status: they were charges, not a conviction. Despite the many sensational claims online, there is no credible reporting that Burgin was charged with murder, and there was no reported conviction or formal sentence tied to the abuse allegations, with the robbery case still unresolved as of the most recent available coverage.
Public Reaction and the Bigger Picture
The case resonated well beyond typical celebrity gossip. As the allegations became public, the conversation broadened across social media into a wider discussion about the safety of young Black women and how easily someone can become entangled in a harmful relationship. That discourse also had a harsh side, as a visible wave of commenters directed blame at Jackson, and even at her mother, Kiya Cole, rather than at the person she accused. Cole responded publicly with a brief message of support for her daughter. For many observers, the episode became a reminder of how survivors are frequently treated when their private struggles are exposed to public scrutiny, and it prompted renewed pushback against victim-blaming.
Conclusion
Stripped of the noise, the documented story is a sobering one. Skai Jackson and Deondre Burgin, the rapper known as “Yerkky Yerkky,” had a son named Kasai in January 2025 after a relationship that reportedly began while he was incarcerated. Jackson obtained a temporary restraining order in May 2025 after alleging a pattern of abuse, accusations Burgin denied, and Burgin faced a string of arrests through the year that culminated in a serious, still-pending robbery case. The couple separated, and Jackson turned her public focus toward her son and her own safety. Much of what circulates beyond these facts, from invented charges to manufactured scandals, is unverified or simply false, and the most reliable understanding of this story comes from the court record and established reporting rather than from rumor. For anyone affected by domestic violence, confidential support is available in the United States through the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233.
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