Right now, after the Nazi march in Charlottesville and the violence that followed, anyone and everyone is being loud and clear about how much they hate racism.
Oh, everyone except for Kim Kardashian, who is going to bat for Jeffree Star, of all people. And Twitter has taken notice, folks.
As you"ll see in the video below, Kim Kardashian goes to great lengths to avoid even mentioning racism as she defends him. And that is why she"s been being dragged on Twitter all day long.
To tell you what"s going on and why "Kim K" and "Jeffree Star" have been trending for half the day, we should start at the beginning:
Okay, so, Jeffree Star has been famous for about a decade or so.
Like, he got big on MySpace and LiveJournal, so that"s the era when his career launched.
Jeffree Star is, among other things, a model known for his eccentric appearance.
Like, we know that he looks kind of extra in that photo with Kim, but he used to wear long-ass pink hair and snow-white makeup, so that"s a mild look.
He"s a makeup expert, but he"s also a singer and a performer.
Well, fast-forward to modern times, where he criticized Kim Kardashian West Beauty"s products on Twitter.
"Umm… Kim what is going on with those new swatches?? Looks like chalk."
We"re not going to get bogged down in the merits of his criticism, because critiquing makeup is a whole other thing.
No, what happened next is that Kim"s fans and followers saw this.
And they went off.
Now, this is kind of normal for celebrities.
You"ll have people who go "hmm this is incorrect" or "terrible that you would say this."
But you"ll have countless thousands of people, whether they"re the Beyhive or Little Monsters or whatever, who act independently but nonetheless amount to a swarm of hate that fills people"s Twitter mentions.
It"s … not a great part of fan culture.
Anyway, that prompted Kim Kardashian to make a video (which we have for you below), where she defends Jeffree Star, claiming that people can change.
Maybe she knows the details of what Jeffree Star is accused of doing, maybe she doesn"t.
(He"s not accused of retelling some bad or "edgy" racist jokes; he"s accused of screaming the n-word multiple times at specific people. As an adult, to be clear)
But many have pointed out that it"s alarming that Kim would go to such lengths to defend Jeffree Star"s past, even though he"s apologized, considering that many of his statements could have been directed at her husband or her children.
Twitter, uh, is not having it.
This is a small selection of tweets:
"This was ill advised. Also, folks gotta stop abusing the word "negative." You meant racist. Just plain old racist. Say that."
She really did say "negative" a bunch. That"s not the right word there, Kim.
"She really just compared being a racist to swatching makeup properly…"
Kim states in the video below that she credits Jeffree with her knowing how to do better swatches. As if that"s the point of this.
"Black people calling out blatant racism directed towards them = being petty. This Is Kim K logic."
The lady who recorded Taylor Swift on the phone and sat on the recording for months to release it at Taylor"s weakest point should know what pettiness is.
Calling out somebody"s racist past isn"t pettiness, folks.
"Kim k is asking her fans to forgive jeffree star"s racist past…but what if that hate was directed towards north and saint..like?????"
Yep.
"Jeffree Star"s own "friends" fell back from his ass over his vile & racist behavior throughout the years (although I side eye them too)"
To be clear, sometimes people do delve into embarrassing, offensive humor or, in their youth, wear blackface without realizing that they"re doing anything wrong or how damaging it can be.
The key is that they learn from it and apologize and never do it again.
But the sorts of statements that Jeffree Star is said to have made are beyond the pale, you know?
Even if he really should be forgiven for his troubled past — though some on Twitter aren"t convinced that he"s really changed — it"s alarming that Kim would devote her considerable platform to defending Jeffree Star.
Especially in the current social climate.
Anyway, here"s the very ill-advised video:
