Kim Kardashian Accused Of Wearing Blackface On New Magazine Cover

Alix Malka/7Hollywood/kimkardashian/Instagram

Kim Kardashian West has once again been accused of wearing blackface for a controversial new magazine cover shoot.

Posing for a shoot with 7Hollywood, the 39-year-old media personality turned businesswoman had apparently attempted to channel the old Hollywood glamour of Elizabeth Taylor.

However, the photographs – which show the reality star sporting a deep tan – have left many fans feeling very uncomfortable, and have resulted in a fierce backlash.

Kim has now been accused of cultural appropriation and blackface, with some people even drawing comparisons with Rachel Dolezal, a white activist who attempted to pass as black for many years until her cover was eventually blown.

At first glance, some people didn’t even realise they were looking at the most famous reality star on the planet, believing the cover star to be a black woman.

One person tweeted:

I didn’t recognize Kim Kardashian, and I guess that was the point. Negative or positive press is still press. But truly, this is really gross that she’s normalizing blackface for young kids to follow suit. Kim pretends to be a role model and then she reminds us that she isn’t.

Another Twitter user remarked:

You want to be a black woman so bad without any of the struggle or magic. Darkening your skin (bronzer, tanning, whatever) to get the look of being what equals a light skinned black woman isn’t cute. Its blackface no matter how skilled your makeup artist is. Stop it.

As reported by Page Six, a source close to Kim has responded to this latest controversy, denying the ‘blackface’ allegations.

According to this source, the beauty entrepreneur had not purposely been attempting to look like a black woman, and it was the lighting that made her skin tone appear darker than it actually was:

It’s the lighting that makes her look darker in this specific image, There are multiple covers and images from this shoot where the lighting looks more natural.

People are so quick to find the negative in everything and also often forget that she is of Armenian descent.

The source had apparently been on set at the time of the shoot, which had been for the Winter 2020 cover of the glossy fashion magazine.

This isn’t the first time Kim has been accused of cultural appropriation. In June, she came under fire after naming her shapewear brand ‘Kimono Intimates’, a decision which was widely regarded to be disrespectful use of Japanese culture.

In 2017, Kim was accused of wearing blackface after modelling her KKW beauty contour and highlighter kits with a skin tone far darker than her natural shade.

After being called out, Kim adjusted the pictures in question and replaced them both on her website and in social media posts.

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Julia Banim

Jules studied English Literature with Creative Writing at Lancaster University before earning her masters in International Relations at Leiden University in The Netherlands (Hoi!). She then trained as a journalist through News Associates in Manchester. Jules has previously worked as a mental health blogger, copywriter and freelancer for various publications.