I’m tired of millionaires and billionaires telling poor people we need to work harder to get where they are. Especially those who built wealth after starting out wealthy. As if to achieve wealth in this country is simple and easy. We see this condescension all the time.
Recently, we’ve seen it from Kim Kardashian.
Kardashian — in an interview with Variety — recently received both backlash and praise for telling women, “Get your f—ing ass up and work. It seems like nobody wants to work these days.”
In my opinion, this was the most stupid, arrogant and all around tone-deaf thing she could’ve said, especially during Women’s History Month.
There are so many things wrong with her statement. Women are working.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, women represent 57.4% of the U.S. workforce. This number is declining from recent years and, according to CNBC, is a 33-year low—primarily due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Some women were forced to leave the workforce to take care of their families due to closing schools and daycare centers.
Let’s not forget the fact women are still not paid equally to their male counterparts, and it is legal to discriminate against hair in 37 states. Both of these issues disproportionately affect women of color, especially Black women. Black women make 62 cents for every dollar a white man makes, and Latina women make 51 cents per every dollar. Women of color not only have to overcome racial barriers, but also financial inequities.
I was most annoyed by Kardashian talking like she started from nothing. She didn’t.
She was born with a silver spoon in her mouth. She is a lawyer, model, socialite, and apparently a businesswoman. In reality, Kardashian is just one of the many examples of America’s overattachment and glamorization of the elite. She’s simply a person who became famous for being friends with wealthy people like Paris Hilton and having her sex tape leaked.
Everything in her life has been overly publicized. Her name is used on games, used to bring clout to a brand and more. The biggest irony is she’s putting down the same women she and her family consistently appropriate, which is to steal parts of a culture, and steal from. Her entire family actively profits off of Black culture, Black children, Black men, Black features, Black anything. How many Blackfishing scandals have they had?
The women in this family do everything but be themselves for the sake of likes on social media and elite attention, but she has the gall to put other women down? Other than posting her body and business all over social media, what does she really do? What was her job before she married Kanye West or before she starred in the show “Keeping up with the Kardashians?”
I don’t think Kim Kardashian should criticize other women, considering everything has been practically delivered to her.
As for all silver spoon-fed socialites like Kim, as well as any Kardashian other than Kris, please keep being a socialite or unnecessary celebrity and leave the “poor people” advice to those who have actually been poor. We didn’t ask.
