Hey, Kim Kardashian: You’re not ‘retarded’ but you’re rude
I appreciate that we live in a world where people can be called out for their errors. I don’t use the word mistake because people generally know right from wrong.
With Kim Kardashian saying people are “retarded” in an Instagram video for not knowing who she was dressed as in her busty and provocative Halloween costume, I don’t buy the story that she simply Megyn Kelly’d and didn’t know she was being offensive. (Remember the blackface fallout last week?)
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Celebrities typically live in a bubble. That’s true. But for someone like Kardashian who is on social media non-stop, it’s hard to believe she’s sheltered and doesn’t know right from wrong when it comes to offensive name calling. I understand that during the scripted scenes on her reality shows, Kim throws insults left, right and sideways at family members during staged fights but this is a prime example of how reality is different than reality TV.
Just as Kardashian knows it’s not OK to say “nigger” or call someone a fag/dyke or use a cultural slur to describe a group of people, it’s unbelievable that Kardashian didn’t know the R-word is offensive. Maybe she’s spending too much time with President Trump and it’s clouding her judgement.
Admittedly I don’t spend too much time tracking the Kardashians on social media but the fallout was fast and harsh, from what I understand. And rightly so.
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Some people went to the extreme and suggested Keeping Up with the Kardashians be kancelled… er, cancelled on E! because it is an NBC network and Kelly suffered the same fate after making a hateful komment… dammit, comment.
This deepens the discussion and enlists the Taste Police for people to chime in and say, “What’s too hateful to be allowed?” The argument could be made that Kardashian didn’t use the R-word on her TV show so that should be untouchable. (Though, it’s worth checking to see if it was ever used on the show now that we know it’s in her vocabulary.)
We saw Paula Deen all but wiped off TV screens after it was revealed she used the N-word decades ago. Ditto for Roseanne Barr’s recent Twitter rant. She lost her job and has been banished from showbiz (for now).
So perhaps it is a valid argument that Kardashian face the same fate with her TV empire as Deen and Barr. Is it likely to happen? Probably not.
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It is strange that we live in a world where racism is the line in the sand for hate. Hatred towards any group — gay/lesbian, special needs, disabled, elderly, etc. — is seemingly OK. Though I wonder how strong that argument is given the rhetoric we see in politics nowadays.
Kardashian did apologize, according to TMZ. She reportedly said, “I want to apologize for what I said in a recent video post that is inappropriate and insensitive to the special needs community. I try to learn from my mistakes and this is one of those times. Please know that my intention is always pure, and in this case, it was a mistake. I’m sorry.”
Is it too little too late? Do we now, like with Kelly, believe Kardashian is hate-filled and the comment just revealed what she really thinks of people? Or was it just a slip-up? It’s great both women owned what they said and took the justified heat that followed. But is an apology enough?
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If there is a positive in both of these stories it’s that people rallied to stand up against the type of bullying hatred displayed by these two women of power. It showed that no matter what the paycheque, people still have no problem calling out despicable comments from high-profile individuals.