On the latest episode of Hulu’s The Kardashians, Kim Kardashian deals with the ramifications and backlash she received following her interview with Variety back in March.
The SKIMS founder was interviewed alongside her mother Kris Jenner, and her sisters Kourtney and Khloé for a Variety cover story, detailing the famous family’s move to Hulu. “Today, we’re shooting the cover of Variety, which is really exciting and we’re doing it because our new show on Hulu is coming out,” Kris said in a confessional. “It’s going to be a really great piece.”
While TV cameras were rolling, the reporter asks the reality stars, “What would be your advice for women in business?” After Khloé stresses the importance of hard work and having passion, Kim chimed in with her now infamous comment, “I have the best advice for women in business. Get your f***ing ass up and work. Success is never easy, so if you put in the work you will see results.”
When asked how it feels to hear that some say the family is just “famous for being famous.” Kris responded saying she believes the perception has changed within the last few years, while Kim said, “We focus on the positive. We work our asses off, and lucky us, we don’t have to sing, dance, and hey, we made it.”
Later in the episode, Kim received a phone call from her mom and Kris asked how she’s doing. Kim replied: “I don’t know. I’m mortified. I don’t know what to do because I obviously… it’s all my fault.”
Kris comforted her daughter, saying, “It’s not your fault sweetie, people misunderstood where you were coming from.”
In a confessional, Kim explained that it “wasn’t a blanket statement towards all women, like as if I didn’t think women work hard or respect the work that they do because I see it every single day. The most important people in my life that have shaped my life and shaped my career and helped me get to where I am today, all are women, so I hated that that got misunderstood and for that I’m so sorry.”
Kim battles with whether or not to respond to the controversy, and if she feels like she’s cut out for life in the public eye. “I don’t know if I am anymore,” she told Khloé.
“I said what I said about people working. Do I believe in that? Yes. I believe that you have to work hard in order to do that,’ Kim told her sisters. “I was just so blindsided by how angry people got. But enough people were triggered so I want to be responsible and understand why people feel why people feel the way that they do, and I do understand that. A lot of people weren’t given the same opportunities as us.”
The SKKN by KIM founder went on to talk about how her mother raising six children and establishing her career in her 50s inspired her.
Khloé gave her take on the subject in a confessional. “‘No matter what her answer would have been, people would crucify her regardless because they’re always going to say well what do you know, you were born with a silver spoon in your mouth,” she said. “But it’s frustrating when the world doesn’t want to see you for who you are and they want to always make whatever you say a personal attack – you don’t have empathy or compassion for other people. It’s the right message, the wrong messenger.”
“I think people would assume that I got everything handed to me being on a TV show but being on a reality show, let alone a reality show girl with a sex tape… does not open doors,” Kim went on to explain. “I always felt like I had to work extra hard, and harder, to be taken seriously and for people to forget about my past.”
The comment went on to make it into the 2022 Academy Awards, with Regina Hall poking fun at Kardashian the with comedian Wanda Sykes.
Eventually, Kim did decide to address the backlash in an interview with Robin Roberts for Good Morning America. The mogul explained that the quote was taken out of context, and that her tone changed in the interview after being asked about the Kardashians being “famous for being famous.”
Variety‘s Elizabeth Wagmeister defend her reporting. “It’s not what she claims,” she wrote on Twitter. “I just reviewed the raw footage. The question was very direct: ‘What would be your advice for women in business?’ The question about famous for being famous came after that question, actually.”
The episode seems to have confirmed Wagmeister’s claims.
