Khloé Kardashian has brought on a stir after liking a submit that jokes about Kim Kardashian’s quite a few cultural appropriation scandals.
The submit in query options footage of Kim displaying off a number of diamonds, with a pretend audio recording dubbed over to make it appear as if she’s bragging about proudly owning “Blackness.”
“My favorite part of having these many diamonds is knowing just how much conflict went into getting them,” the audio says.
The clip then goes on to joke that the jewels are from Black Panther’s legendary nation of Wakanda, saying: “So, these are from Wakanda — Wakanda forever — so now I own Blackness!”
Several followers concluded that whereas the submit was clearly shared for fun, the context behind the Kardashian/Jenners’ historical past of cultural appropriation is much from humorous — particularly not when one of many sisters joins in on the joke.
One of probably the most memorable examples of Kim being accused of appropriating Black tradition includes her well-known Paper journal cowl.
Kim fairly actually broke the web in 2014 when she balanced a champagne glass on her butt as a part of the now-infamous photoshoot. The pictures had been shot by Jean-Paul Goude, a photographer who has lengthy been accused of fetishizing Black ladies.
And it turned out that the groundbreaking pose was truly an precise duplicate of considered one of Goude’s older works. In 1982, he photographed a nude Black mannequin in the very same place, which he featured in his e book, Jungle Fever.
So, when followers realized of the inspiration behind Kim’s shoot, they accused her of “reenacting a photo that actively and decisively acknowledges the white pastime of fetishizing the Black female body.”
Kim has additionally been accused of appropriating Black tradition in the case of hairstyles, together with her cornrows — a styling method used to guard afro-textured hair — attracting criticism on a number of events.
Many web customers have spent years expressing their frustration at Kim sporting the fashion, provided that Black ladies with cornrows have lengthy been known as unprofessional and unkept for rocking the exact same factor.
But it’s not simply Kim who’s been on the heart of such controversies. Khloé has additionally lengthy been accused of appropriating Black tradition and, extra prominently, fetishizing Black males.
In reality, Khloé has been very open about the truth that she “only” likes “Black guys,” and has poked enjoyable at her sample of completely relationship Black males a number of instances in varied episodes of Keeping Up With the Kardashians.
And Khloé as soon as truly suggested Kim — who shares 4 kids with Kanye West — to answer somebody who had racially abused her oldest daughter, North, by saying, “Hashtag fact, my baby is Black. Hashtag I only like black cock. That’s what I would say.”
What’s extra, Khloé confronted large backlash in 2014 when she reposted a meme that joked in regards to the KKK. The submit featured a photograph of Khloé, Kim, and Kourtney, alongside the textual content, “The only KKK to ever let Black men in.”
Fans had been outraged by Khloé’s option to share the meme, not simply because the KKK have murdered and opposed the civil rights of Black folks for the reason that 1800s, but in addition due to her obvious consolation in making such an offensive joke.
This controversy was just lately introduced into view once more by Kim’s ex-boyfriend, Ray J, who took to Instagram final month to share an previous clip of Wendy Williams discussing the topic on her speak present.
And Khloé additionally confronted backlash this yr over one other race-related scandal from the previous, when previous photographs of her controversial 2003 Halloween costume reappeared throughout social media.
Khloé, who dressed up as a pimp alongside 4 Black ladies whom she held on leashes, was of participating in “slave cosplay” when followers found the previous photographs. One of the ladies within the photograph, Megan Good, expressed her remorse at collaborating within the group costume in 2009, writing on Instagram: “That one time on Halloween when you were young and dumb…and clearly didn’t think 15 years ahead lol smh.”
With all of this in thoughts, followers had been pissed off with Khloé for liking a submit that joked about Kim proudly owning “Blackness,” and subsequently making mild of those quite a few scandals.
“Her liking this doesn’t sit right with me considering they steal from Blackness,” one individual wrote. “Yeah the video is funny but she shouldn’t be laughing considering how much they offend and appropriate Black women. In her mind she probably thinks she’s laughing at/making fun of themselves but yeah, no,” stated one other.
Bringing her previous Halloween costume into view, a 3rd consumer replied: “Every time I think of Khloé, I can’t help but think of that terrible photo from the LV club (I believe it was LV,) and the collars and leashes. How did all those who approve, market etc… think that was a good idea? Very insulting and inconsiderate.”
Fans went on to name Khloé “out of touch” for hitting the like button, mentioning that she’s lengthy refused to “address the role” her household have performed in “appropriating Black culture.”
“That’s not funny that just shows how out of touch they are,” one consumer stated. “I completely agree, it is very weird,” one other added.
“how are you going to like this video when you refuse to address the role your family played in appropriating black culture as well as your past problematic behavior,” a 3rd questioned.
“There is no accountability from them because they think they aren’t doing anything wrong. Which is sad knowing that they are raising black kids,” they added.
Interestingly, the topic of how the Kar/Jenners are elevating their Black youngsters has been mentioned again and again amongst followers, with Khloé particularly sparking controversy in 2018 when she stated she does “not see color” in response to racist trolls who criticized her daughter’s pores and skin tone.
Khloé, who shares two youngsters with Tristan Thompson, was talking out towards the racist feedback she’d examine her little lady, True, when she casually famous that they “do not see color” in her family.
@narcicismo I attempt to put myself of their sneakers &perhaps they had been introduced up in a unique kind of family then I used to be. So as a substitute of shaming I attempt to educate. In our family we don’t see shade. We see emotion and motion. We see love. We feed off of power
Several followers had been fast to counsel that selecting to disregard True’s shade meant that Khloé was “turning a blind eye” to the very actual problems with racism that Black folks face.