Kim Kardashian West was slammed Thursday by some social media users who said she appeared darker on a new magazine cover.
Kardashian West shared photos on her social media accounts of her on different covers of 7Hollywood magazine, including some in which she is wearing a strapless dress by designer Thierry Mugler, who also created her 2019 Met Gala dress.
“WHAT A DREAM” Kardashian West captioned the social media posts. While some celebrities, including her stepsister, Kendall Jenner, and Lala Anthony, complimented Kardashian West on the photos, many others on social media found the images less than dreamy.
“Why was it necessary to make her look black on this cover?! Why?!,” one Instagram user wrote. “This is not even her natural shade at all … she’s not black or of the diaspora. And EVEN IF this was not her idea she could have spoken up BUT of course she didn’t see anything wrong with this.”
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And while Kardashian West was thought by some to have channeled Elizabeth Taylor in the photo spread, many suggested she looked more like another legendary actress — Diahann Carroll.
Another Instagram user commented: “I’m confused as to how her black celebrity friends do not check her passive-aggressive, problematic and racially insensitive behavior. She constantly does BS like this and it’s just not okay!”
Jerome Trammel, an internet personality, wrote in response to Kardashian West’s tweet: “You helped get some Black people out of jail & you thought we were going to let this slide? Nah! They want our shade but not our struggle.”
Kardashian West, who is studying to become a lawyer, has advocated on behalf of former inmates Alice Marie Johnson and Matthew Charles, both of whom were released after serving lengthy prison sentences.
Some others online accused the “Keeping Up With the Kardashians“ star of cultural appropriation and suggested that, in at least one of the images, she was “wearing blackface.”
A representative of Kardashian West declined to comment to NBC News on the backlash.
Kardashian West has been accused of cultural appropriation, most often appropriation of black culture, a number of times and of being a “culture vulture.”
In August, Kardashian West changed the name of her shapewear line after she faced backlash, including from the mayor of Kyoto, Japan, for branding it Kimono. A kimono is a traditional Japanese garment. Many social media users found the name of the brand ill-fitting. It inspired the hashtag #KimOhNo and a petition had been started on change.org.
In June 2018, Kardashian West was slammed for wearing Fulani braids — which are believed to have originated in African regions — and crediting them to a white woman by calling them “Bo Derek braids.” The small braided cornrows have been worn by women of color, in particular those of African descent, long prior to Derek in the 1979 film “10.”
Following the backlash, Kardashian West said she knew the origins of the hairstyle and did not intend to be disrespectful in how she described them.
