Taking her own controversial advice to heart, Kim Kardashian went to work on damage control over the backlash to recent comments she made about women in business.
The reality TV mogul drew significant ire from just about all corners of the internet earlier this month when she offered up some “advice for women in business” in a Variety interview about her famous family’s ever-expanding media empire.
“Get your fucking ass up and work,” Kardashian said in a clip that quickly went viral across social media. “It seems like nobody wants to work these days.”
Speaking with Robin Roberts during a “Good Morning America” interview on Monday, Kardashian expressed some regret over the remark, which she said was “taken out of context.”
“Well, that statement that I said was without questions and conversation around it,” she told the “GMA” co-anchor. “It became a sound bite really with no context. And that sound bite came off the notion and the question right before, which was after 20 years of being in the business you’re famous for being famous. And I ... my whole tone and attitude changed with the previous question that went into that question about what advice would you give to women.”
Kardashian went on to say she was referring specifically to people who believe simply appearing on a reality show or cultivating a large social media following is enough to be successful.
“You have to really work hard to get there, even if it might seem like it’s easy and that you can build a really successful business off of social media,” she said. “And you can, if you put in a lot of hard work.”
“It wasn’t a blanket statement towards women or to feel like I don’t respect the work or think that they don’t work hard,” Kardashian continued. “I know that they do. It was taken out of context, but I’m really sorry if it was received that way.”
The remark sparked fierce criticism from Kardashian detractors. Many expressed outrage over the suggestion that women needed to work harder, especially given how the COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately pushed women out of the workforce, with women of color bearing the brunt of job losses.
According to data compiled by the National Women’s Law Center, over 1 million women have left the labor force since February 2020, making up 68.5% of the total job losses since the start of the pandemic.
Others mentioned Kardashian’s privileged upbringing as another point of frustration, noting that many of the women she was criticizing were not raised in Beverly Hills by wealthy and famous parents ― her father, Robert Kardashian, was a prominent and well-connected lawyer.
A lawsuit filed by Kardashian’s several past employees over unpaid wages only further inflamed tensions. Former workers in the reality star’s gardening and maintenance staff of her Hidden Hills mansion have since accused her of being late with their pay and refusing to pay them overtime among other claims, according to Page Six.
A spokesperson for the Kardashians refuted the claims, telling the outlet that the workers in question were “hired and paid through a third-party vendor” and that the reality star has “has never not paid a vendor for their services.”
In the weeks since the Variety profile, Kardashian’s remark has continued to bubble up, with Oscars co-host Regina Hall even poking fun at the reality TV star over the comment onstage at the ceremony on Sunday.