Last week, a feud seemed to erupt out of nowhere when Sharon Osbourne called Kim Kardashian a “ho” for reasons that still aren’t entirely clear.
The remark was made in an interview with The Telegraph in response to a question about whether Kim is right to consider herself a feminist.
“Kim says she’s doing everything in the name of feminism, but that’s not feminism!” Osbourne told the outlet.
“Those girls live off their bodies, half of L.A. has been through them and everything they do from the sex tape to the plastic see-through dresses and the gym wear is about sex, not female progress.”
Osbourne continued:
“God bless them. If Kim wants to show off her body, fine. But that’s not feminism, that’s being a ho. And there’s nothing wrong with being a ho, but always remember what you are.”
Osbourne’s comments are so loaded with irony that we’d tip our hat if she were making herself look dumb on purpose, but we’re pretty sure that’s not the case.
The idea of a feminist gatekeeper who gets to decide which women are worthy of the title seems rather … anti-feminist.
But Kim didn’t even bother to point that out when she clapped back at Sharon.
Instead, Ms. Kardashian-West merely pointed out that she never claimed she posts nude photos in the name of feminism:
“I think she said I said a quote about, ‘I post nude photos in the name of feminism.’ Never said that. So I think when people misquote you and then comment, it just sounds ridiculous,” Kim said last week.
“I post nude photos because I like how I look and I feel proud when I’ve lost all this baby weight and I post it because I feel like posting it and I feel powerful.”
No one – including Kim Kardashian – is claiming that Kim Kardashian nudes are the 21st Century’s answer to The Feminine Mystique.
Basically, Osbourne built up a curvaceous straw man, gleefully tore it down, and rightfully got called out.
Naturally, she went into damage control mode and began frantically backpedaling during Monday’s episode of her The View knockoff, The Talk:
“It’s so ridiculous how these things happen,” Sharon said.
“I was doing this interview, and (the reporter) said to me ‘have you heard that Kim Kardashian has come out as a feminist’ … and of course I commented.”
Osbourne continued:
“She asked my opinion and I gave it. It wasn’t rude, it wasn’t … whatever (Kim) does, it’s showing her body. Which shows that she’s a strong grounded woman and she’s not ashamed of her body, she wants to show it, which is her business … people have been doing that since day one … it doesn’t make you a feminist.”
We’re not sure we’re following Sharon’s argument here.
It’s something along the lines of: “Someone told me Kim Kardashian said something she never said, so I responded by calling her a ho. What’s the big deal?”
We can understand how Sharon would be so naive as to go on a misogynistic rant in response to unverified information.
It’s not like the woman’s been famous for decades and wound up involved her own share of messy tabloid dramas.
Seriously, though, we’re beginning to understand why Sharon’s defense of her own comments was so lame.
They’re pretty impossible remarks to justify.
