‘What In the Black Face Is Going on’: Kim, Khloe Kardashian and Friends Draw Criticism Over Seemingly Darkening Their Complexions for Bratz Doll Costumes
Kim Kardashian and her sister Khloe pulled off a Halloween look that has social media users calling them out for allegedly appearing to appear to be Black, a social media term known as blackfishing.
The Kardashian sisters were joined by friends Olivia Pierson and Natalie June Halcro as they each dressed up as Bratz Dolls for a festive photo shoot, showing off their costumes in multiple Instagram posts.
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The foursome donned fashionable mini skorts and dresses, knee-high socks, platform heels and boots, and accessorized their costumes with Bratz bedazzled handbags, berets and the dolls’ signature long hair.
Fans said the women nailed the look as it pertains to fashion. Critics, however, took notice of the women’s darker complexions, calling them out for using Halloween as an excuse to wear blackface.
“What in the black face is going on….” wrote one user who was thrown off by their appearances. Some people suggested that the overly tanned looks made it challenging to distinguish which life-size dolls were Khloe and Kim.
There were also people defending the costumes by pointing out that non-white people dress up as characters of different races and ethnicities all the time for the spooky day in October. “I like it y’all be dressing up like white characters so what’s the difference,” read one comment. Like-minded comments were outnumbered by the outrage.
There’s no way y’all can tell me that this isn’t BLATANT blackface like come on Khloe is so white!! She’s the palest of all of the kardashian sisters https://t.co/jpTcXnu2LL pic.twitter.com/EPLxgW9oz2
— (@hill_ashia21) November 1, 2023
“So…The Karsmashians dressed up as black girls. How is that different from any other day? asked one person online. In her Instagram Story, Khloe showed footage of her and Kim peeling off their lipstick that helped them achieve the Bratz fuller lips. She joked that the removal of the glammed-up look is what they go through every day.
Others argued that Halloween was not an exception for the Kardarshians and their friends to present themselves as a different ethnicity. A seemingly fed-up user wrote, “The kardashians whole asthetic is copying black women and to think they have black friends who co-sign for they weird ass is crazy.”
The popular line of dolls currently sells one of Kylie Jenner, the youngest of the famous sisters. She, like Kim, has been called out in the past for seemingly appropriating the style and physical attributes of Black women. In 2017, Kim, the founder of SKIMS, found herself addressing backlash after she used an excessively tanned photo of herself to promote her beauty brand’s contour and highlight kit.
“I would obviously never want to offend anyone. I used an amazing photographer and a team of people. I was really tan when we shot the images, and it might be that the contrast was off,” she told The New York Times. She claimed no one on her team spoke up about concerns about blackface accusations prior to the photos being posted. In the end, however, the images were removed and edited per the criticisms found online.
Two years ago, the “Keeping Up With The Kardashians” star divided users over her matching hairstyles with daughter North West — one of four children Kim shares with ex-husband Kanye West. “Honestly, a lot of the time it comes from my daughter [North] asking us to do matching hair,” she said in an I-D magazine interview.
The mogul said she often explains to North that certain hairstyles are best suited for Kanye’s mini-me and not her. “But I also want her to feel that I can do a hairstyle with her and not make it that big of a deal either if that’s something that she’s really asking for, and really wants,” added Kim.
Despite their comments being in shambles, neither Khloe, Kim, Pierson, nor Halcro have responded to the ongoing discourse about their Halloween looks.