Kim Kardashian Shares Valid Criticism Of 'Cancel Culture' After Her Response To Balenciaga Scandal Drew Backlash
What more could she do?
Creative Lab / Shutterstock / Twitter / Instagram via Canva Pro Kim Kardashian is hitting back after she was criticized for her response to Balenciaga's recent scandal, a strange lapse of judgment by the brand’s campaign organizers that caused many to boycott the label.
In November, Balenciaga shared a campaign that feature kids (and their stuffed animals) in BDSM-like clothing and had a document about a Supreme Court opinion on child pornography.
"Fans" waited in the wings to see what Kardashian, who had frequently worked with the luxury fashion brand, would say about the mess.
Now, she’s speaking out about the backlash she and Balenciaga received surrounding the scandal and speaking her mind about the way she was treated.
Kim Kardashian believes that it didn’t matter what she said about Balenciaga.
She believes, that no matter what she did or said about the situation, people would have been mad either way.
In a conversation on Angie Martinez’s IRL podcast, Kardashian got candid about how she felt about the whole Balenciaga ordeal, and how she got dragged into the controversy.
“Everyone was like ‘Why aren’t you speaking out? Why aren’t you speaking out?’” she said of the public’s reaction to her “silence.”
“I’m like wait, I’m not in this campaign, I don’t know what’s happening, let me take a minute to research this.”
She claims that, once she did the research and learned what had happened and gave her thoughts on “child porn” and completely denounced it, “cancel culture” was still mad because what she said wasn’t enough.
“They’re mad if I don’t speak out. They’re mad if I do speak out and if I don’t cancel,” she tells Martinez.
Cancel culture didn’t allow her the opportunity to research what was going on and maybe speak to representatives on the Balenciaga team to figure it out for herself.
Instead, they immediately jumped at the chance to edge her out of her “silence” and criticize her for the statement she did make — and all for a campaign that she wasn’t even involved in.
Martinez even asks her if she believes that, to some people, it didn’t matter what she said because they would criticize her regardless.
“Totally. You definitely can’t win,” Kardashian responded. “No matter what, you can’t win. But I’ll still be me.”
The Balenciaga scandal should have been denounced by Kardashian and other celebrities.
Kardashian is admittedly very close to the brand and posts campaigns and photoshoots with them frequently.
Prominent figures involved with the public, involved with Balenciaga, and with kids of their own, should probably make a statement denouncing it — but then what does that mean for all of the celebrities that didn’t?
“The thing that confused me with this whole thing was why they came for Kim specifically and not Rihanna, Dua Lipa, Justin Bieber, Bella Hadid or Nicole Kidman (or the dozens of other celebrities attached to the brand),” a confused fan wrote when the clip was reuploaded to Reddit.
“Bella and Nicole were in the campaign and never made a statement from what I saw.”
Another fan laid it out simply for them: “It’s because they hate Kim.”
There’s a lot of vitriol in the public sphere for the Kardashians, so no matter what they do, people will find a way to criticize them.
Isaac Serna-Diez is an Assistant Editor who focuses on entertainment and news, social justice, and politics. Keep up with his rants about current events on his Twitter.