Black Twitter is dragging the Kardashians again. I know it seems as if they do something stupid more often than Stephen A. Smith says something stupid, but in the KKKKK clan’s defense (Kim, Khloé, Kendall, Kylie and the other one ... ), they are pretty stupid.
And when you combine stupidity with a nonexistent sense of shame and an unquenchable thirst for the spotlight, you begin to understand why the Kardashians do stuff like steal from Tupac and Biggie, solve riots with cans of Pepsi and marry delusional hip-hop stars.
This time, Black Twitter is up in arms over their Halloween costumes. This year, the animated bag of Botox and plastic-surgeon silicone known as Kim Kardashian decided that she would have multiple costumes, all based on her favorite musicians.
Seems fine, right? Everyone thought she looked cute when she came out dressed as Cher, although, to be fair, 94 percent of Black Twitter didn’t know Cher actually made music. They thought she was just that woke-ass actress who always shits on Donald Trump on social media.
It was when Kim switched up her outfits and dressed up as R&B singer Aaliyah that everyone’s eyebrows twitched.
You gotta admit: She nailed the costume. Well, actually, no one on the dark side of the internet would admit it. They were not here for it at all, calling it disrespectful to the memory of Aaliyah.
Other Kardashian fans took the time to point out that this wasn’t exactly cultural appropriation:
So, was it cultural appropriation?
We asked an expert (me), and the judge rules Kim Kardashian not guilty.
Although the term should technically be called “cultural misappropriation,” what most refer to as cultural appropriation is the misuse of the intellectual property, characteristics, rites and symbols of a culture. When 21-year-old white girls wear feather headdresses to a concert, that is appropriating Native American culture. When white boys wear blackface to their frat party, it is appropriating black culture.
This is not those.
Kim is, however, guilty of the lesser charge known as a lane violation. What pissed off Black Twitter is the Kardashian family’s lack of awareness as to answering the most important question pertinent in all of this:
“Why, though?”
If you wanted to pay homage to your musical icons, why not choose someone besides Aaliyah? There are 938,488,847,474,202 white people who have ever lived (I counted). I’m sure at least three or four of them made somewhat decent music. And don’t you dare say, “But they weren’t my faves!”
Bitch, we know you ain’t got no goddamn Cher albums!
I love Cher with all of my heart, but everyone knows Cher’s music was trash—even Cher. You dressed up as Cher because 83 percent of the time, Cher wears the minimal amount of clothing required to cover her areolae and crotch regions. And that’s fine. But it also proves that you selectively chose who you wanted to be. Why didn’t you dress up as Prince Markie Dee from the Fat Boys, then? He’s a musical legend, too.
So, no, Kim Kardashian isn’t guilty of cultural appropriation this time, so y’all can chill. Or not. I don’t really care.
I’m rather enjoying this dragging.