Kim Kardashian covers the latest issue of I-D Magazine. She’s mostly promoting SKIMS, her billion-dollar company, but she’s also just talking about her life, her family, her future. This was conducted before Kim passed California’s baby bar exam, and she talks about her law studies and plans to work on criminal justice reform as well. It does feel like Kim is in transition, becoming a single (divorced) woman, running her successful businesses, but still playing around in reality programming. Some highlights:
On raising kind kids: “I think it’s really important for me to have kindness. That’s actually one thing I’ve tried to impart to my kids too – I’ve tried to raise kind human beings. None of this matters. So treat everyone with respect and kindness. I think that’s just the goal, honestly.”
She loves Japanese culture, design & anime: “I’ve taken [the kids] to Japan a few times, I’m really inspired by Japanese culture. Our guest house is actually a samurai’s old home that my art dealer, Axel Vervoordt, used to own. We got the bones of this old house from Japan and built it into our house, because it had such a different energy, this house has the energy of a warrior. It’s really cool. I love how everything is designed [in Japan], I find it super inspiring, whether it’s the pottery, dishes, packaging design. It’s equally really fun, aspirational and inspirational. I’m really into Japanese architecture, I have a home in Palm Springs that’s being built by Tadao Ando. And one in another place that I don’t want to disclose, because no one knows I have a place there, and that’s by Kengo Kuma. I love their work so much. I’m really excited for those projects that are underway.
Changing the name “Kimono” to SKIMS: “It was a really quick decision. I mean, I came up with the Kimono name because it was a play on my name, and because I was so inspired by Japanese culture. To me, it was just paying homage to it, but I quickly realised that it wasn’t being seen that way. I would never intentionally try to appropriate the culture in that way. It wasn’t my intention at all. So I just was like, “Okay, shut it down. It doesn’t matter that we have so much product already. We have to figure this out. We need to take our time and slow down for a second and figure it out and change the name.”
How she’s navigated criticism accusations of blackfishing: “Obviously, I would never do anything to appropriate any culture. But I have in the past got backlash from putting my hair in braids and I understand that. Honestly, a lot of the time it comes from my daughter asking us to do matching hair. And I’ve had these conversations with her that are like, “Hey, maybe this hairstyle would be better on you and not on me.” But I also want her to feel that I can do a hairstyle with her and not make it that big of a deal either if that’s something that she’s really asking for, and really wants. But I’ve learned and grown over the years, and figured out good ways to communicate with all my kids about all this. I’ve definitely learned over time, and I’ve tried to pass that culture of learning onto my kids too, but then there’s also a history of braiding hair in Armenia, and people forget that I am Armenian as well.
Future goals: “I definitely see myself more and more in the justice world. Continuing doing what I’m doing in school. Mainly I just hope, like we were talking about earlier, to have raised kind and well adjusted kids. I hope we’re just enjoying life, and helping other people. That’s my biggest goal.
Law studies: “Law school is a long process and it’s a lot of work, and I’m two years into it and I hope that after school is done, I can just focus on… It’s not really going to change the work that I do, but maybe I’ll have free time to help more people. I really just love that I can use my voice and advocate for people that can’t help themselves, and that sometimes don’t know where to turn and are just helpless and hopeless. I hope that I can really help where I can and make a difference.
Oh, honey. “I would never do anything to appropriate any culture.” That’s just a flat lie. I get that she’s had some growth and education about blackfishing and cultural appropriation, so maybe that’s what she should say? Something like, “I f–ked up a lot and I’m sorry but I really did educate myself on this.” She really threw North right under the bus too, like North was the one begging her to do cornrows! As for the stuff about Japan… I had no idea she was so into Japanese architecture, honestly.
Cover and IG courtesy of I-D.
Girl
I wasted a few brain cells reading about her……I’m so mad about that
How she uttered that line without being immediately struck by lightning is beyond me.
I think she can say this the first time. Then like Maya Angelou says – once you know better you have to do better.
I see Kim change yet I want her to simply say she is trying to do better every day. To do that for me she also needs to apologise to all and everyone she has hurt in the past.
This is painful and involves centuries of oppression and spinning stories about Armenia will not help.
Agreed!!!
lmao…I love this comment.
@Neners Ok?’!
My eyes rolled back so far they are stuck.
Same.
Hahaha I just did a spit take.
She can’t possibly be this stupid.
Probably will get flamed for this but: I don’t care about the cultural appropiation conversation around Kim Kardashian.
And I don’t think it’s throwing North under the bus when a woman who has black children does cornrows because her kids want to match with Mommy. I mean she is modeling her children’s culture if you want to get that deep about it and yes people have been putting their hair in braids since there have been people.
And look at what she says about Japanese culture. She is APPRECIATING the culture by surrounding herself with it and being inspired by it. As it should be.
So I’m for once Team Kim on this ridiculous conversation.
I see your point, except for the “kimono” thing. How do you call an item of clothing something that is already an item of clothing and think there won’t , at the least, be a lot of confusion?
I don’t know how anyone would honestly have been confused? I mean many things can have the same name. And she didn’t change it because of the confusion but because of the backlash. Which I honestly thought was ridiculous too.
Like obviously it was a play on her name and she didn’t think about it much. Which… yeah, she’s Kim Kardashian of course she didn’t think much about it. So what? I mean what culture would honestly have been harmed by her billion dollar company being named Kimono?
I think people enjoy hating on her for anything they can find and those people are telling on themselves by the ridiculous lengths they will got to to go after her.
Actually, a lot of folks of Japanese descent wrote very thoughtful pieces about how “Kimono” (and not just Skims, but using the term for a general garment style) was harmful to their cultural heritage. If you are interested in learning more, Google is free.
I don’t know why I’m bothering explaining this to a white person, but the biggest issue beyond blackfishing Kim trying to name her underwear company Kimono in the first place, is that she was trying to TRADEMARK the word. It would be like a someone trying to trademark “shirt” or “pants”
@Lauren She seriously tried to trademark it? If she really was such a fan of Japanese culture she should have known better than that and known it was something you couldn’t trademark. You would think she would have at least one lawyer who would know better. I’m sure she has a team.
Robyn
Kimonos did not originate in Japan. Google is helpful, yes.
Wiglet – Perhaps not originally (back more than a millennium), but that’s grossly oversimplifying their historical and cultural significance to Japanese culture. But sure…my comment to learn more is the one that needs nitpicking here.
The fact that she was attempting to trademark the name seems insane to me. How can you trademark a name which belongs to another item of clothing which such a long cultural history? Surely it would never have been approved anyway?
Kim is making some really smart moves in dealing with Kanye and yet in other areas of her life, not so much.
Are you Black and/or Japanese?
Why would it matter? I can form my own opinions on issues without being a part of the group being discussed?
The arguments presented “against” Kim are not convincing to me. I find the discussion around what it cultural appropiation and what is cultural appreciation that is going on online lacking in nuance and shaded by personal animosity.
So Baron is white and saying that Black people who have issues with her appropriation and Japanese who had issues too need to just be quiet.
The “she probably didn’t think about it much” excuse is actually highlighting the problem.
Appropriating stuff from other cultures because you think it’s cool or like how its name sounds with your name *without thinking about it much* means you’re (as your default approach) disregarding and disrespecting the people, cultures for whom that stuff is meaningful or sacred or has historic significance.
Other cultures aren’t a costume or a rack at a boutique for KK to browse through and play dress up in.
A white person telling poc they shouldn’t be offended over a white person appropriating their culture.
I have to laugh. Ridiculous.
@BaronSamedi Next time just type “not all white people” or “call me Karen.”
@baronSamedi yeah you can form your own *already debunked* “opinions” and share them all you want.
Talking over POC about issues on which you cannot be an expert and they are is a weird flex and it says things about your intentions.
Steph
Racist comment. We should start petitions to remove professors and scholars from teaching anything outside their ethnicity and racial background by this logic.
Yeah this reminds me of a lot of discussion about Hollywood and which actors can play what roles. It’s important to remember what is driving that discussion: the issue of economic justice. Black actors, female actors, or some other group should be considered for roles in the same way that white male actors are.
There’s also an overlapping discussion of representation, which is important but distinct.
When it comes to cultural appropriation, something similar is going on: the primary issue at stake is the assumption and marketing of a culture that is not your own (often done badly due to ignorance) for your own gain. There’s a history of this in Hollywood and the music/fashion industry. That is what makes cultural appropriation and the lack of proper credit problematic. It isn’t problematic in theory to integrate other cultures into your work, etc. It’s virtually impossible to avoid in an immigrant country! But in practice, there’s a specific context for this behavior that makes it problematic.
So for me, I’m less a purist about this issue and more about the effect of the appropriation. Did the appropriator exploit? What was the intention? What was the effect?
When Kim says she just wanted to match her daughter, that doesn’t really bother me at all. But I understand that others have different opinions.
Agree, this ^ is where I land on appropriation.
If Kim wants to run around in cornrows with her daughter so they can match, that doesn’t feel like exploitation to me. But when she starts to appropriate other cultures as part of her business plan (as with Kimono), then it becomes exploitative.
Long before she had a daughter though she was appropriating other cultures for personal gain: her show and personal brand. So it feels disingenuous when she shrugs and says she was just relating to her daughter. Had that been her first and only transgression, we wouldn’t even be discussing it.
Going by the replies baronsamedi is most definitely white in which case…….jesus.
That said, cornrows are a bit of an issue. They aren’t just braids. They’re a classic black hairstyle that was much maligned in the US (a class indicator) and even barred by corporations as “inappropriate.” They’re part of the culture around black hair, which is costly to maintain and partly shaped by white beauty standards (among other things). So as I said above, the foul here is determined by the context. You can’t take things out of the context that gives them meaning and then say “what’s the big deal? This is meaningless.” That just isn’t a serious argument. And of course, the people who do this are the ones who are ignorant of the context in the first place (which is where privilege comes in).
It’s not a meaningless argument at all. Personally I wish we could get to a place where nobody was persecuted for their hairstyles or clothes and people were all free to wear what they want but with that would have to come a true understanding of the background of these styles.
I don’t think styles should be limited to people who’s DNA most closely matches its history. Those who are wearing different cultures styles are most often doing so simply because they like the style, not because they’re pretending to belong to that culture, but there is an issue if those who’s culture it does originate from cannot wear it so easily as a white person. Then it becomes incredibly unfair.
There is also a big difference when someone is wearing a style mockingly, clearly pretending to belong to that culture or attempting to profit from it, when people from that culture are struggling to do so.
In the world of celebrity, it’s almost a completely different game to regular people just trying out styles they like. A celebs image is often part of their brand, which immediately becomes a business. If a black celeb is having to straighten her hair to seem more appealing to the masses and a white celeb is still just as appealing with cornrows, that’s not a level playing field.
Her appropriation wasn’t limited to braids, though. There was a lot of other things, like skin darkening for photo shoots, that can’t be blamed on her daughter. Her excuse is weak and doesn’t acknowledge the actual problem.
Yeah I agree that the skin darkening is a problem. She just seems pretty thoughtless about what she does in these contexts. And that speaks to the privilege of ignorance.
Armenians are not Black, and they are not African. They are an Eastern European / Middle Eastern people situated near Turkey and Iran.
Armenian traditional braids aren’t at all the same as Black Fulani or cornrow braids. If Kim were wearing her own actual traditional Armenian hairstyles, no one would have an issue. Instead, she specifically put on Black African hairstyles and tried to hide behind her long-passed Armenian father when she got criticized. It’s cheap and fake. There’s just no reason to be outright lying. European white culture also had a tradition of braiding hair, BUT it’s not the same as Black braids either. A lot of people who are Black have explained at length how problematic it is for non-Black people to put Black skin and culture on and take it off at whim like a costume. At this point, it’s a Google search away. So please educate yourself if you really don’t know.
Plus it is hardly just the braids. It is also the deliberate skin darkening, as you point out, and then she uses the excuse that she has psoriasis when that’s mentioned. Psoriasis doesn’t require darker skin makeup.
She deliberately wears Black urban American cultural signifiers, darkening her skin, dressing in urban Black styles, wearing Black hairstyles, dating exclusively Black men and making jokes about their penises, mimicking classic Black pictures like that “break the internet” one, getting plastic surgery to make herself an even larger ass.
She could have just been herself the whole time because she was already beautiful and sexy. There was just no need to dress up in another race like it was a costume.
Jillness I totally agree. I feel like this is a repeat of messages she said before about not intentionally trying to appropriate other cultures. But then she displays problematic behavior over and over again. She is not learning, she’s not changing or growing. Which makes her apologies sound hollow. When a person is truly apologetic about some thing, they stop doing it.
I agree with Baron. I would like to learn more about Armenian culture as well. Earlier in her career, Kim explained to a woman on the CW channel that women in Armenia also are very curvy.
what about this conversation is “ridiculous” as Baron claimed?
You have obviously never been to Armenia and also never seen Kim before her body shaping surgery. I wish she would stop using Armenia as a shield for her behaviour. Can’t she at least once in her life blame or hide behind her equal amount of Northern European heritage? She says all this because she thinks people forget how she was and are ignorant about countries that aren’t well known. Signed, an Armenian.
Profiting off of another culture’s symbols, traditions, or identity is obviously cultural appropriation (ex. Kimono). Casually taking and then discarding another culture’s symbols (Khloe wearing a traditional Indigenous feather headdress as a costume) is also obviously appropriation. And bottom line, if another groups says they find whatever you’re doing to be a kind of desecration then just stop. The context really matters and you have to read the room.
One of the key aspects of having the unearned advantage of being white (which I am btw) is remaining unaware, ignorant, or taking for granted, your racial identity. Being blind to the effects of wearing cornrows, or naming a product after someone else’s culturally symbolic item is easy when you get to be oblivious. So you have to wake up or at least admit you messed up and stop doing it.
@ BaronSamedi Your statement is what we call micro-aggressions which can be the worst form of racism. It comes from people who think they aren’t racist but still perpetuate racist ideals for example, thinking that they know better than the POC when a POC is expressing how something made them feel and how it is harmful to them.
Alot of times it’s because those people themselves want to keep doing their own cultural appropriation and don’t want to address their own problematic behavior. Black and Asian cultures suffer the worst cultural appropriation for different reasons.
I think its worse because an outright racist I can see and deal with, but when it comes from people you thought were allies, its like a stab in the back.
man, ITA. I come from a racially mixed family and this is the most annoying thing. You see these behaviours, usually from (but certainly not limited to) white people, over and over and over again. At first, you’re not sure whether you should be bothered by it. But when it happens over and over and over to the extent that it becomes a stereotype or cliche, you can’t mistake the fact that it is an issue. Then you try to explain it to the person, and they become so defensive. And that’s the thing that wears you down: the defensiveness. Someone else who doesn’t experience racism thinks they know how it works better than you do, the subject of it (or close to someone subject to it). It’s not just the arrogance of ignorance, but the total lack of self-awareness and unwillingness to listen that offends.
I will never in my life forget the white boy who argued with me about whether this black girl’s box braids had fake hair (he insisted it was all real). I’m like I buy the hair and braid it for girls all the time!!
It is incredibly sad how true this is. For minorities in question it is like talking to a wall.
“I don’t care about the cultural appropiation conversation around Kim Kardashian”
That’s ignorance. You don’t care because it doesn’t affect your life, so you don’t get to decide that it’s okay for a white woman to do this when black women have told us that it’s not okay.
I agree with you. Who cares about getting flamed on this echo chamber website anyway?!
@Baron Samedi – it’s interesting that you make this comment in support of Kim Kardashian’s actions while using the name of a Loa from voodoo. It’s not surprising that you don’t think her behavior is problematic.
I agree with Baron Samedi, GrnieWnie, and Chergui. Thanks for the nuance you brought to the conversation.
The delusion. If not delusion, then just a lie.
Ffs. She is the Captain of Team Blackfish and has been long before she had black kids to blame. Also, Armenian braids are NOT the same as what she was doing and continues to do, and her blackfishing isn’t just about those braids either.
She has had considerable plastic surgery to get her “curvy black body” which she did not have previously as an adult. along with her face too.
See this is why I can’t and will never feel sorry for this woman no matter what happens to her and I don’t care how anyone feels about it.
Wow. Just wow. I knew we’d return back to this. No one deserves stalking, harassment, abuse, etc.
She can be wrong about appropriation and she can also be a victim.
Empathy. It’s a good thing
And yet, she still chose to date, marry, and have children with Kanye after he announced he had to take 30 showers after dating Amber Rose in order to date Kim.
Nobody deserves to be a domestic abuse victim. Period.
She can be problematic, appropriating other cultures (the second of which is not a ruling I can make, as I’m not a member of any of the cultures she’s appropriated), AND still be a victim of domestic abuse. One thing does not affect the other.
And this is why women don’t come forward, and if they do, they aren’t believed. And if they are, their lives are picked apart to discredit them. And thousands of us end up dead from intimate partner violence every year.
Yeah, kinda. On the one hand, I’m sorry for the domestic abuse that is happening to her – nobody deserves that. On the other hand, I don’t “feel” anything for her as a person.
I hope people are kinder to you if you ever have a stalker threatening your health and well-being.
@Angel.
Fun fact: You can be problematic and deserve to be called out and held to account for that, and STILL not deserve to be abused or gaslighted by an ex.
Then you’re worse than she is. As much as she deserved the backlash for the things discussed here, there is something wrong with a person’s priorities if they think cultural appropriation and “cultural appropriation” are worse than hate speech and violence against women or any other group of people. This is why white people aren’t the only people with some trepidation around the anti-cultural appropriation discussions. There is definitely a side to it that’s toxic. Not all of us are cool with the idea of something like a bindi or a tan making abuse of a woman ok.
I also just have to say, it would be hard to imagine this approach being taken over a cis man doing something wrong or questionable. Is homophobia or a hate crime toward a bisexual or gay man nsabd because he raps? Is anti-Semitism toward a Jewish man nsabd because he got dreads or tans a lot? Is racism toward a man of color nsabd because he’s been misogynistic?
It is entirely possible to acknowledge the criticism of the K’s from the Black and Japanese communities, which is very real, and at the same time have compassion for a woman in a horrible abusive situation.
I would be very hesitant of saying cultural appropriation by white women isn’t “as bad” as intimate partner violence against white women, because cultural appropriation is actually part of ongoing systemic violence against Black bodies. This is what it is so frustrating that people don’t realize. It’s dehumanization.
Great points, Emma. I completely agree.
One is worse than the other. Worse in impact, and worse in intent. It’s ok to acknowledge that. There will never be a time when I’ll put seeing a white person accessorize with/try to profit off of Indian culture on the same level as the fear of someone inciting hatred and violence against a loved one, or someone comitting a crime of hate, dv, or honor against them. It’s hard to imagine anyone who could say they fear both equally. That’s extreme. It feels more accurate to compare cultural appropriation to plagiarism, piracy, and other forms of theft.
Both are still bad though. A bank employee who steals from someone’s account isn’t let off the hook just because their action isn’t equal to the actions of some other employee going postal.
Ewwww.
Cultural appropriation is problematic and horrible but using that to give abuse and stalking and death threats and harassment a pass or “punishment” is absolutely disgusting.
Get your life together. @Angel.
Well, color me shocked that once again she has proven that there is no situation that she isn’t willing to exploit in order to try and erase her culture vulture life. We even got another version of the “i’M StIlL LEaRNiNG!!” excuse complete with another throwing her kid under the bus in order to justify why it is okay for her to culturally appropriate (did she eve explain why it was okay BEFORE she had kids to blame it on?).
I also find it interesting that she’s had a fascination with Japanese culture that no one ever heard about before, but that it was totally that and no other reason (say like, built in controversy and PR) that she tried to trademark Kimono for her clothing line. PS – you didn’t “come up” with the name.
At the end of the day, this is just a fortunately timed article that she is using to try and rebrand herself again while public sentiment is on her side. I will never understand how people keep falling for her PR ploys.
Obviously… never…
Ma’am
North is only 8 years old and she did a lot of appropriating way before. She only until now exclusively dated black men and modeled her body to a stereotypical black woman form. She knew she would never be taken seriously by white a A listers and the ‘elite’ crowd when she started. Her whole look was modeled after black women but because she isnt black she knew she would be ‘superior’ in terms of getting the athletes,money and attention. And she handed the whole playbook to the rest of her sisters.
I completely agree with you on this! But I think that’s not an issue of appropiation so much as… naked opportunism and capitalism at work.
She saw an opportunity and exploited it to a level of unprecedented success. I don’t know if “she knew that she would be superior” or if that is just a very sad fact of the state of US though? Like, why COULD she succeed at something black women need to struggle so hard for and got the opportunities they don’t receive?
I just think she is a symptom of the diesease and not the cause if you know what I mean? And then reducing this nuanced, complicated discussion to “well cornrows and also she called her company kimono” is just too shallow a read for me.
Someone on TT said last year that Kardashian’s interest in Black men would disappear b/c now they have their kids as an excuse to appropriate. That’s exactly what happened. Also “I’m still learning”?! She did it THIS MONTH in Vogue. I really can’t stand her. Kourtney is the only tolerable one
“I get that she’s had some growth and education about blackfishing and cultural appropriation”
Why are you always caping for her? She was literally in Vogue THIS MONTH doing Nefertiti cosplay.
Yes, great point!
Kim didn’t appropriate cultures on accident. She did it on purpose.
One, because she dgaf.
Two, because the proximity to blackness made her a part of that ~culture~, yet allowed her to stay well within her white privilege.
Three, because the outrage got her plenty of attention and she knew that she could get away with it because too many white people like to dismiss the notion of cultural appropriation.
This.
I actually really believe her about the kindness. She is superficial, materialistic, extremely privileged, but she is also kind and her many years of the show clearly portray a woman who, for all her flaws, defaults to kindness in how she handles people. She’s also shown a lot of forgiveness over the years.
She’s not a role model or anything, but she puts effort towards ending unjust prison sentences for people of color, and she has also thrown her weight behind common sense gun laws. She has positive attributes.
It’s a shame she keeps making the same mistakes with appropriation. Why doesn’t she lean into her Armenian heritage and display that with pride, instead? It’s a beautiful culture and she is a beautiful white-Armenian woman. There’s plenty of creativity she can do and still stay within that lane.
First off “ she not making the same mistakes with appropriation” she is actively doing it on purpose. She’s continuing to do it over and over and over again for years no matter what black/ Asian people have told her. Being white-Armenian woman was giving her the attention she wanted so she put on a black façade and it got her all the attention and money.
What forgiveness has she shown for years? O you mean when when she sleeps with her friends boyfriends/husbands. Was it when she slapped a gag order on her ex so he couldn’t defend himself in the lies she was telling even though she cheated on him. Are you talking about the poc people she silenced and blocked when they told her what she was doing was racist over the years.
This. All this. x1000
This is a lovely and insightful observation.
I don’t think she knows what “obviously” means.
This whole family is vile! I’m white and was married to a black man. I did not feel the need to spray tan myself into another race or copy EVERYTHING about the black race. No one would have a problem with her wearing some black hairstyles if she wasn’t so blatantly copying black women in every way! From surgery to style to choice of mates. there are white women with black men who don’t copy any POC styles. Then her family comes up with a new name for braids, again making money off POC and marketing it as something new. She is the worst example of a white woman being married to a black man. She does everything you don’t do in that situation.
The gaslighting is real with this one. And very insulting! She makes it hard to like her because of the blatant lies and utter cluelessness. With the exception of Kourtney and Kendall, that family does nothing but blackfish. Then play innocent when called out on it. And poor North, being used by both of her parents to bolster their disgusting images. They really need to stop lying about being billionaires. Forbes has forever tarnished themselves by calling people billionaires then later retracting, like with Kylie. There are a lot of wealthy people who aren’t billionaires. I can that believe Rihanna is one though. Billionaires who didnt inherit their wealth typically have one or more popular products and/or services with measurable success/profits. Kudos to their PR and marketing departments though.
So she’s still saying she’s in “Law School” huh? Someone please ask her what Law School she attends and what Bachelor Degree she earned first? Kim you are NOT in Law School. Stop it. You are simply studying to pass the Bar. I mean good for her for doing that, but she needs to stop acting like she’s an actual Law Student.
Because Law school sounds better then saying I passed a baby bar law exam .
That caught my attention too. It almost got lost in her laughable “I would never appropriate another culture!” nonsense, but yeah now she’s trying to pretend she’s actually accepted and enrolled in a legit law school? Lord.
I really shouldn’t be surprised but all the gaslighting and excuse in this comment section, to excuse Kim‘s racism.
Kim comment is just laughable.🤣🤣
Same!!
It’s not like she’s even hiding it. Clearly way too many people in the year 2022 are okay with Blackface if a cute white woman does it.
Yeah I’m going to have to just move on, super sad to see some of these comments. I don’t recognize the names, so maybe they’re not regulars?
I don’t recognize the names either.
I wouldn’t be surprise if these are paid bots from the Kardashians they have done it on the site before wouldn’t be surprised if they’re doing it again.
@Coco paid bots definitely make sense.
Everything the Kardashians do is for money and fame; and, therefore, is exploitative.
Rolls eyes into eternity. The entire family continues to profit off their blackfishing schemes. Not cute or cool. And the oppression Olympics in this comment section, yikes.
+100
Girrrllll. Coming from someone who is 100% Armenian, and moved to the states as an Armenian refugee, she needs to quit with the “there’s braiding in Armenia” ya, like 2 to 4 big thick braids, mostly worn by girls until they got married, back in the old country. Unlike her Fulani/cornrow braids) the braids were shown under a box hat, without the roots braided. First she throws North under the bus, then tries to drag in her dad’s culture.
Thanks for sharing these details.
Obviously, you would, and you have.
Yea Kim is horrible with this, but let’s not forget Khloe and Kylie. They literally want to be black women and have tried everything to look as such.
I certainly haven’t forgotten them. As someone else said upthread, Kim gave them the playbook and they used it. Disgusting and pathetic at the same time.
I think the whole ‘Kimono’ kontroversy was planned. I think they wanted the brand to be a big deal from the start, so they knew people would be mad at kim for appropriating Japanese culture. Bringing attention and notoriety to the brand. It’s telling that she say “how quickly” they changed the name and changed their minds. For me, Skims was always the name for the brand, they just wanted Bad/Good PR and then appear as woke when they acknowledged their ‘mistake’
Eminem is very pro POC in his actions and group of friends so if he happens to start doing some things typically POC, no one would think twice about it. He regularly hangs w POC and stands up for POC. Very rarely do you see Kim w POC, except for the men she is with but has somehow picked up almost every trait or style known to be mostly POC related. That’s the difference! One is immersed in the culture, Kim uses to look “cool” and make money.
A rapper who never hung out with black people would be very strange. Especially as he has relied on a bunch of black producers for beats. If we are calling out white people who built fortunes appropriating black culture he deserves to be in the conversation along with Justin Timberlake and a bunch of white rappers and R& B singers. Its a long tradition in the music industry to find a white artist thats more palatable to the white market in order to make money of music that originated in the black community. From Elvis to Eminem, to Timberlake, to Bieber. Let’s have the same energy for these white dudes as the white women.
This comments section was very educational. I sometimes struggle to fully understand cultural appropriation, as in, I don’t always know what is appropriation vs appreciation. To be clear, I don’t argue with people about it, I just don’t always fully recognize which is which.
For example, I understand why white women in cornrows are an issue. Or that Native American headdresses shouldn’t be worn as fun costumes for Coachella or Halloween.
But sometimes there are instances where I am unsure if something is cultural appropriation. And in those cases, I err on the side of caution and don’t do “the thing” that I am not sure about- and I don’t argue with the people of that culture if they are offended by someone doing it.
Please know that your honest self-reflection and kind thought process is highly appreciated by me as a POC. I thank you.
They are really lacking in self awareness this Kardashian family. Wow.
She needs to be honest with herself. The lack of self-awareness from her and her family should be studied.