“She can re-earn some more by flashing.”
“What sort of vain human being carries or even owns that much jewelry? Dislike!”
The flood of unsympathetic tweets followed the gunpoint robbery of reality television personality Kim Kardashian on Oct. 3 in Paris.
Kardashian reportedly lost an estimated $10 million in jewelry. Recently posted tweets, such as “This is a publicity stunt,” are indicative of the public’s complete lack of empathy toward celebrities.
Five masked men, disguised as law enforcement, forced the night concierge to bring them to Kardashian’s luxury apartment in Paris, where she was staying alone without security present. Before she could call her bodyguard Pascal Duvier, who was protecting her sisters, Kardashian was locked in the bathroom, duct-taped across the mouth and fearing for her life. The men escaped quickly on bicycles with the jewelry and two phones.
As expected, the media and public immediately reacted, but not with the usual “I hope she’s OK” that should be offered to victims of crime. Instead, the public chose to speculate whether the robbery was even real and focus on her social media posts boasting her jewelry. Given the controversy that surrounds the Kardashians, people have inappropriately assumed that she is fabricating the story.
This amount of negativity is overwhelming and insensitive, as if everyone had forgotten that during the robbery, Kardashian feared rape and murder. This is nothing to be joked about and the media shouldn’t perpetuate the idea that she is a lying sexual assault victim.
Entertainment Tonight reported that Kardashian still relives the frightening experience in flashbacks and “gets emotional.” Kardashian heightened her security team, a possibility of body doubles and 24-hour protection, in a response to the traumatic experience.
Her response is warranted given the extreme crime; however, the focus has unfortunately been on her immense wealth and the high insurance values of the stolen jewelry rather than on the robbery itself.
Her husband Kanye West stopped his concert in New York for the family emergency, and even that has been covered far more than than any cries to find and prosecute her attackers. The public’s reaction demonstrates the heartlessness surrounding celebrity culture, in which jealousy over people’s wealth and fame suddenly define the type of justice someone deserves.
Model Chrissy Teigen’s tweet on the situation perfectly summarizes the public’s mind-set: “Fame is interesting. Celebs are supposed to love you guys while also knowing you'd make a meme of our dead bodies to get retweets.” She added, “No one is begging you for sympathy. I know the game plan is to naturally hate celebrities."
The robbery came days after prankster Vitalii Sediuk attempted to kiss Kardashian’s rear end and grabbed and picked up model Gigi Hadid. Hadid fought back, prompting unsympathetic headlines that she had “furiously lashed out” at a fan — just another example of the public’s lack of empathy for celebrities.
If there is anything remotely positive to make of the situation, this robbery serves as the wake-up call for all celebrities to increase security measures and decrease in-the-moment social media. Net worth and fame aside, nobody deserves what happened to Kardashian.
