The thing about making most mistakes is that they"re learning opportunities. That sounds corny as hell, but it"s kinda true.
Kim Kardashian defending Jeffree Star"s history of racism was for sure a mistake, and she"s been dragged on it all day long on Twitter.
But it looks like she actually listened to the backlash instead of "tuning out the haters," because Kim"s put out a new video today where she apologizes for the whole thing. And you can watch that, below.
Okay, so, yesterday Kim Kardashian took to Snapchat to try to shut down her fans and followers from slamming Jeffree Star.
If they"d been reading him for filth over his hair or whatever, that would have been fine.
(Good, even — one could argue that celebrities who don"t say anything when they see their fans bullying someone are complicit in the bullying)
But though they were responding to Jeffree Star insulting Kim Kardashian"s latest makeup swatches (he said that they looked like chalk), that wasn"t the subject on which they were dragging the famous model and makeup artist.
No, they were going after him like a nest of enraged hornets because of Jeffree Star"s history of racism.
See, video of Jeffree Star resurfaced earlier this summer.
In it, Jeffree Star is saying some truly awful, vile things that should never be repeated.
It"s mostly a lot of the n-word, folks.
The video is from years and years ago, and Jeffree Star posted a lengthy and seemingly earnest apology.
But … apologizing doesn"t magically make the crappy stuff that you"ve done go away.\
Now, people can accidentally do or say racist things — like repeating a bad joke, or adopting a hairstyle that really doesn"t belong to their culture and has gotten people of color mocked and fired — without realizing that they shouldn"t.
Ignorance isn"t an excuse, but it happens.
You grow up and you change, hopefully.
But direct, unbridled racism? That"s not easy to forget.
Or to forgive.
And Kim was absolutely blasted on Twitter for suggesting that people should "get over" Jeffree"s troublesome history.\
First of all, because Kim is white and she has zero rights to tell people of color to "get over" racism.
Second of all, because Kim"s husband and children are black and, you know, you have to wonder if she"d tell North or Saint that.
As it turns out, Kim didn"t know the whole story, as she admits in her apology video below.
"I really wanted to apologize to you guys and my fans for defending a situation yesterday that I really didn"t know enough about."
Yep.
Do your research before you assert something on Snapchat, folks.
Her full apology, during which she admits to having been mistaken and to feeling "really naive," is exactly the right thing to say under the circumstances.
A lot of celebrities enjoy living in a bubble, but really getting to know what people say to and about you on social media can pay off, folks.
