Anais Gutierrez
Kim Kardashian’s cover issue of Interview Magazine is receiving major backlash. The reality star channeled Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis for the cover shoot of the September issue, and people are not having it.
It’s definitely been a month filled with criticism for the reality star. Earlier this month Kim was criticized for defending alt-right makeup artist Jeffree Star.
Bold choice and statement
Kim Kardashian appears on the September cover of Interview magazine, where she discusses family, life, and fashion. The magazine drew a comparison of Kardashian to the late first lady Jackie Kennedy, and it’s a risky one.
“Kim Kardashian West channels another mother whose every move captivated the American imagination: First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis,” the magazine wrote.
The reality star took to social media on Monday to share the photos with her 55 million followers. She thanked photographer Steven Klein for a shoot that she said she will “treasure.”
However, all she met was criticism over the photo shoot and the interview in general.
For one thing, some people pointed out that Kim rocketed to fame by first making a sex tape and then got on a reality show. She shouldn’t try like herself to the former First Lady Jackie Kennedy, who’s considered by many the epitomized dignity and class.
Then, there’s the matter of race
Some suspect that Kim’s skin was digitally altered to look darker in the photos and to match the tone of her 4-year-old biracial daughter.
Then there’s the fact that the magazine considers ‘Keeping Up With the Kardashian’ holds a “real-life mirror” up to what the American family looks like today because it brings up topics such as race, gender, and, more recently, trans identity.”
In the interview, Kim addresses the issue of raising a biracial daughter and her participation in a reality show.
Kardashian also discussed the importance of representation.
“Kanye always has his family around and people who look like my daughter—that’s important to me,” she said. “She’s obsessed with her curly hair, and if she finds someone who has the same hair, she runs to them and is like, “You have curly hair like me?” And we get to talk about it.”
She also referenced the idea that she hasn’t worked hard for her money and fame.
“I don’t sing. Don’t dance. I don’t act. But I am not lazy,” she said.
Interview Magazine 📸 Steven Klein pic.twitter.com/6Um3JgOm8Q
— Kim Kardashian West (@KimKardashian) August 28, 2017
Defending her piece
However, Kim’s not the only one being criticised for her cover issue of Interview magazine. The author and host who conducted the interview, Janet Mock is also receiving backlash.
Mock took to Twitter on Tuesday to defend her participation in the piece with a thread of tweets.
She first cleared up that she was not responsible for the controversial images or text equating Kardashian to Kennedy.
She was also transparent about the details of the interview. Including when and where it happened. She explained they discussed in July on the phone.
She continued, saying she was “proud” of her convo with Kardashian.
“I love popular culture, & my work as a journalist has always used the conversation as a means of exchange,” she noted.
In the interview, Mock called Kardashian a “beauty icon,” saying, “you’ve challenged standards of beauty to make it a bit browner, a bit bronzer, a bit curvier. I wonder how conscious you are of raising a mixed black girl in the world?”
This comment was also criticized, and Mock responded on Tuesday.
“I was comparing KKW to her reality predecessors (Paris H/J Simpson: thin blonde pale white women), Mock tweeted in response. “I should NOT have said BROWNER but BRONZER.”
FYI: I did not choose the portraits/art, headline or write the intro. I led the conversation w/ KKW, in @InterviewMag's signature style.
— Janet Mock (@janetmock) August 29, 2017
Controversies everywhere
Earlier this month Kim Kardashian apologized for defending Jeffree Starr after learning about his alleged history of racist comments. She was also accused of blackface when she debuted her new highlighters back in July.
These are just some of several racial situations surrounding the ‘Keeping Up With The Kardashians‘ stars.
The whole clan has been accused of cultural appropriation. According to some, the Kardashians promote a beauty standard that relies on appropriating the physical characteristics of black and brown women.
According to Brande Victorian, editor for MadameNoire –a lifestyle website for black women– the Kardashians have made their money and celebrity out of “passing those features off as their own (but) not saying a single word or doing a solitary thing to support the women whom they’ve stolen from to build their ‘American dream.’”
Making things more complicated, in the interview, Mock calls Kim Kardashian her own “family’s Olivia Pope,” referring to the character played by Kerry Washington in ‘Scandal.’
The mention of Washington is noteworthy over the fact that the actress is no stranger to having her skin tone digitally adjusted for its final appearance on magazine covers.
In her case, her skin was lightened for a 2015 cover of Adweek. A situation she was publicly unhappy with. But it’s also a common experience for black female celebrities like Beyonce, Lupita Nyong’o and supermodel Naomi Campbell.
Source: USA Today
