Today Kim Kardashian encountered a barrage of criticism when she tweeted her sympathy for Israel in its current conflict with Hamas. Kardashian tweeted: Praying for everyone in Israel. She was soon hit with a ton of harsh criticism including:
You are a disgrace to your people and your ancestors, educate yourself.
People like you are the reason I want to die
Further enhancing your reputation as a dumb porn star
There were more responses that can be read at Twitchy.com, but the virulent responses to her tweet drove her to add a second tweet to mollify Palestinian supporters. Kim’s second tweet read: And praying for everyone in Palestine and across the world!—
Rather than appeasing the angry mob, it incensed them further and increasingly angry (and violent) responses emerged. Here’s a small sampling of these:
@KimKardashian tweets support for Israel; backtracks after haters hate
She takes back her tweets faster than her marriages!
i hope kanye west is gonnna rape ur f**kenn mouth till u dieeee—
Kill yourself!!
You know nothing about #Humanity Die in HELL !
Ill pray you will die kim
pray for palestine not that f**king israel. U’re so stupid!! U should die at there! Bitch.
please just kill yourself now as everyone clearly hates you after this tweet.—
Go die in a hole full of shit
These responses must have absolutely terrified the celebutante, because she deleted both tweets and later offered an apology on her website which she linked to from Twitter. The apology read:
I want to own up to and explain that earlier today I sent out two tweets about saying prayers for the people in Palestine and Israel and after hearing from my followers, I decided to take down the tweets because I realized that some people were offended and hurt by what I said, and for that I apologize. I should have pointed out my intentions behind these tweets when I posted them. The fact is that regardless of religion and political beliefs, there are countless innocent people involved who didnt choose this, and I pray for all of them and also for a resolution. I also pray for all the other people around the world who are caught in similar crossfires.
But deleting the tweets and issuing an apology didn’t slow the rancor. Kimmie must know that we live in a digital age and once you put something on the interwebs, it’s there for good. Here’s a sampling of tweets the deletions and apology engendered:
u posted the Pray 4 Israel tweet & only then after getting the responses from people u tried 2 make up 4 it! It Doesn’t count
kiss my ass and go to hell with Israel
@KimKardashian apologized after her tweets about #GazaAssault but is that really the truth ? I don’t think so She is hater,fascist @racist
i was a big fan of you and came to your event in westfeild is that how you treat us Islam think of your fans feeling
If Kardashian wants to support Israel, that’s up to her, after all we still allow free speech in America. But she should have had the cajones to stand up for her right to free speech and to express her opinion. As it is, by backing down, she looks like a spineless idiot.
I wonder too if Kim was truly worried about the death threats or more concerned that expressing her opinion could decrease her brand – slow sales of the Kardashian merch – or lose viewers to one of their many, many (too many) franchise shows. Kim and Kourtney Kardashian have been busy in the UK promoting the launch of their “kollection” there, so perhaps she fears for the fate of her international business launch? Or maybe she’s just covering her ample ass by deleting the tweets and issuing an all-purpose apology?
Last year, Katy Perry set off a similar firestorm when she tweeted in response to a fan in Israel who asked her for prayers: I am! My prayers are for you guys tonight, SHALOM!!!
Katy was deluged with angry and critical tweets, but none nearly as violent and hate-filled as the ones that Kim received. Katy also received a number of thanks for offering a prayer for Israel, so it was a mixed bag of responses. Katy didn’t delete her tweet, but once she saw she’d waded into messy water, she added this tweet: a kid asked me to pray for him & I did. I don’t support ANY side of violence in ANY place for ANY reason #peaceinthemiddleeast #shenetural!
Interesting that Katy explained herself and held her ground while still offering an olive branch, but Kim caved in like spandex pants digging into her voluminous backside. But then again, Katy doesn’t have a product line and a family of greedy hangers-on to support either…
