Janet Mock Defends Interview With Kim Kardashian West

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Janet Mock’s cover interview with Kim Kardashian West for Interview magazine was the talk of social media Monday—especially after the cover photo named Kardashian West “America’s New First Lady” and styled her after the iconic Jackie Onassis.

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In her interview with the reality-TV star-turned-makeup guru, Mock touched upon several points, including raising black children, privacy issues and being her family’s own Olivia Pope—the fixer.

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Fans of Mock were quick to attack the writer on social media and ask why she would even do the interview, knowing Kardashian West’s history of culture-vulturing and problematic images.

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When Mock asked Kardashian West about raising mixed children, she said that her daughter is always around Kanye West’s family and “people who look like my daughter.”

But there was one question that stood out among them all:

“No matter what folks may say about you, you are a beauty icon, because you’ve challenged standards of beauty to make it a bit browner, a bit bronzer, a bit curvier. I wonder how conscious you are of raising a mixed black girl in the world?” Mock asked.

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Mock used her Twitter account to defend her interview and state why she did it in the first place:

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Should journalists have to defend the work they choose to take on? Sometimes your fave will work with someone who isn’t your fave.