Kim Kardashian Has Always Been In On The Joke — So It’s Time We Stop Making A Mockery Of Her
Her SNL performance was killer.
Rosalind O' Connor / Getty “I’m Kim Kardashian West and it’s so great to be here tonight — I know, I’m surprised to see me here too.”
The billionaire Kardashian behind the KKW Beauty Line and Skims clothing made waves with her debut as the host of Saturday Night Live over the weekend — surprising audiences around the country and almost transforming her public persona.
Which begs the question: why did she have a bad public persona in the first place?
Kim Kardashian was always funny and relatable, we just refused to look for it.
I use the term “we” very loosely, but I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of people fit the description.
The “we” consists of those people who don’t really follow any of the Kardashians and have only seen clips of their show — relying on second-hand statements that give their negative opinions on the family anywhere on social media.
I mean, everyone is watching their every single move and waiting for any of them to make a mistake. Kylie’s pregnant again? Kourtney and Travis Barker did what? Khloe said that?
But that’s exactly what the media does — they write headlines criticizing or highlighting negative things to get people talking and spreading the gossip, and it works.
For the people I mentioned in the “we,” that means that they will never really learn who some of the Kardashians are behind all of the glitz and glamour and gossip that the tabloids show.
Kim, especially, gets the brunt of the hate. Her rise to stardom is often reduced to a certain home movie that was released without her consent — though even this is a way of disparaging her obvious hard work and determination.
Not only that but the way she looks, the way she talks, the various controversies she’s suffered in the past including, but not limited to, her 72 marriage to Kris Humphries and her marriage to rapper Kanye West.
But these things are all picked apart and thrown back in Kim's face in a way that we rarely see happen to other celebrities.
The truth is, Kim Kardashian killed her SNL debut.
A lot of people will find a way to invalidate her involvement as the host over the weekend by saying she didn’t write any of the jokes, or she just wants to change her public persona, but the truth is that it doesn’t matter.
All hosts for SNL are aware of all the content, the skits, the jokes, and the roasts that get included by the writers that work for the show.
Kim had to approve all of them, and also had some sort of creative say in the process as well.
Earlier this week, The Sun shared reports from a source close to the show about how she worked with the writers.
“They weren't sure how controlling she'd be when it came to the jokes about her personal life. But when it comes to her personally, she told them not to hold back,” the source said.
“She has heard everything about herself already so she's not sensitive to any of that.”
During her monologue, she took shots at everyone, from herself to her mother, and her ex-husband, Kanye.
The type of humility it takes from someone who is already constantly criticized by the media shows her vulnerability and her personability.
Her openness to perform any joke that was on the table is admirable — and the jokes themselves were hilarious!
“It’s because of [my father] that I met my first black person. Wanna take a stab in the dark at who it was?” she joked. “I know it’s sort of weird to remember the first black person you met, but OJ does leave a mark. Or several, or none at all, I still don’t know.”
She toyed with her stardom, made fun of her sisters and her mother, and even made some bold moves like kissing SNL star Pete Davidson and straddling Mikey Day.
I always knew Kim as a more reserved person, especially when it came to personal family matters, so seeing this side of her was eye-opening — as I’m sure it was for many people.
Her SNL performance boosted the show’s ratings and saw a lot of positive feedback from people all over social media, so maybe it’s time we stop looking for reasons to hate Kim.
Isaac Serna-Diez is a writer who focuses on entertainment and news, social justice, and politics. Follow him on Twitter here.