When Kim Kardashian decided to dress up as the beloved late singer, Aaliyah, for Halloween, Black Twitter flipped out. As we previously explained, for those who may not know, Black Twitter is defined by Wikipedia as a cultural identity on Twitter, focused on issues of interest to the black community. Now that we’re all caught up on the meaning of the group, let’s dig into why they were hella pissed with Kim and why she’s now trying to explain…days later.
The Prior Backlash Over Kardashian’s Costume
Aaliyah was our R&B princess and she is one of the African American legends whose life and legacy Black Twitter holds near dear to their hearts. Therefore, one of the LAST people they wanna see dressed in a Halloween costume as Aaliyah, is the one and only sexually driven, controversial reality star, Kim Kardashian-West. Not only because she’s famous for, well, whatever she’s famous for, but also because she is a non-African American dressing as a Black person for fun- a deceased Black person at that. That’s why Black Twitter felt that Kardashian’s Aaliyah costume was a display of cultural appropriation, which many find highly offensive.
This was Kim’s costume, which was a throwback from Aaliyah’s 2000 video for her single, “Try Again”…
Baby Girl Aaliyah pic.twitter.com/5GUHkNJgNi
— Kim Kardashian (@KimKardashian) October 29, 2017
In response to Kim’s Aaliyah costume, Black Twitter was like ‘Oh HELL NAW…Kim you better ‘try again!’:
My Halloween theme this year is ICONS! Musical legends!!! Paying homage to some of my faves!
— Kim Kardashian (@KimKardashian) October 29, 2017
I KNOW black twitter is getting ready to grind Kim K to moon dust for this Aaliyah costume. I'm here for the jokes. pic.twitter.com/qllnHuGwFH
— Jasmine Johnson✊ (@_SaiJaeDaddy) October 29, 2017
https://twitter.com/T_Guider/status/924448609483010048
Kardashian Is Now Apologizing…Sorta
So as a reminder, Kardashian originally posted her Aaliyah Halloween costume on October 28th, and received instant backlash over it. However, she waited approximately 6 days to offer an apology for anyone she offended. Here’s her apology via TheShadeRoom:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BbFDFA-FNCT/
“Aaliyah was such an amazing singer and she will forever be a music legend. I saw online that some people were offended by my Aaliyah costume and I am sorry if that offended anyone, but I wasn’t dressing up as a race or culture but rather as a woman I admire and think is amazing, so I don’t agree honestly. I play all kinds of music in my home and I like for my kids to be exposed to many different artists as options for our halloween costumes. We don’t see color in my home. It’s all love and respect. Kourtney was Michael Jackson for one of her costumes and she wasn’t criticized. My son was Axel Rose. We are just paying homage to people and artists we love and respect —it’s that simple.”
In other words, Kim Kardashian is sorry, but not really. How come? Because it’s kinda difficult to be genuinely sorry for something that you do not agree you did wrong. At any rate, at least she took a minute out of her busy social media posting schedule, to acknowledge the feelings of those who were in opposition of her Aaliyah Halloween fiasco. Some celebs would’ve just been like ‘to hell with y’all’ and kept it pushin.’ But I guess since Kim Kardashian is the mother of two precious Black babies and is also married to a Black man, she’s learning to have some empathy toward issues that will never affect her, but will in fact affect those she love dearly. Mrs. Kardashian-West, you’ve still got a LOT to learn about this, but you do get a ‘B-‘ for effort.
