Variety Reporter Says Kim Kardashian’s Comment Not ‘Taken Out of Context,’ Clarifies Context

The reporter who filed the original story and interview for Variety is pushing back, saying Kim’s context for what happened “is not what she claims.”

According to Kim’s “GMA” appearance, prior to her comment during the Variety piece, she had just been asked a question about being “famous for being famous,” which changed her “whole tone and attitude.”

She then said her comments — where she told women to “get your ass up and work. It seems like nobody wants to work these days” — were taken out of context. What she was really talking about was that it takes hard work to be successful, even on social media and reality TV.

But the original reporter behind the Variety interview, Elizabeth Wagmeister, pushed back via Twitter saying that Kim has her context wrong. She said she watched back the interview video and the question about being “famous for being famous” was actually asked after the one where she asked if the Kardashians had any advice for women in business.

“It’s not what she claims. I just reviewed the raw footage,” tweeted Wagmeister. “The question was very direct: ‘What would be your advice for women in business?’ The question about being famous for being famous came after that question, actually.”

On “GMA,” Kim argued the “statement that I said was without questions and conversations around it. It became a soundbite really with no context.” The video accompanying Variety’s story reveals both question and conversation around Kim’s words.

“I came off off a question right before, which was ‘after 20 years of being in the business, you’re famous for being famous,’” Kim continued. “And I– My whole tone and attitude changed with the previous question that went into that question about what advice I would give to women.” Wagmeister says this “previous question” came after the advice one.

“Having a social media presence and being on a reality show does not mean overnight success,” Kim continued. “You have to really work hard, even if it might seem like it’s easy and that you can build a really successful business off of social media. And you can, if you put in a lot of hard work.”

She went on to explain her comment, saying, “t wasn’t a blanket statement towards women, or to feel like I don’t respect the work or think they don’t work hard. I know that they do. That was taken out of context, but I’m really sorry if it was received that way.”

In the interview video shared as part of Variety’s original story, which can still be viewed on the story page, Khloe sets up that segment of the video by repeating the question asked.

She responded first, saying, “My advice for women in business is that you just have to do what you’re actually passionate about, because if you don’t have passion, it’s not easy, regardless of how it looks.”

After Khloe talked a little bit about that, Kim jumped in to declare, “I have the best advice for women in business. Get your f—— ass up and work. It seems like nobody wants to work these days.”

As her family agreed, she went on to add, “You have to surround yourself with people that want to work; have a good work environment where everyone loves what they do because you have one life. No toxic work environments and show up and do the work.”

Kim’s comments sparked an immediate backlash on social media and from celebrities alike. Meghan McCain penned a lengthy op/ed for The Daily Mail where she urged Kim to understand the privilege she benefited from in building her career. She called Kim’s comments “aggressive and completely tone-deaf in these complicated post-Covid times that we are living in.”

“She didn’t pull herself up by her bootstraps — as they say,” Meghan wrote, adding that Kim “has been afforded more opportunities than the average person can ever dream of.” She continued, “While she may work hard, less than 99.9% percent of the world’s population will ever be given the opportunities that Kim has had.”

The TV personality went on to end her post by sharing some words for Kim, writing, “I would advise Kim to try and continue growing and morphing with the times I would encourage her to be humble and self-aware enough to realize that she is the embodiment of the one percent of the one percent.”

“You didn’t simply get there from hard work alone,” Meghan, the daughter of the late John McCain concluded. “Trust me, as someone who has benefitted from opportunities — given to me in the same way they were given to Kim — I know what I am talking about.”

Her former co-hosts on “The View” agreed, with Sunny Hostin noting, “I just think that people that are born on third base shouldn’t be talking about how easy it is to hit a home run.”

Over on social media, Jameela Jamil tweeted, “I think if you grew up in Beverly Hills with super successful parents in what was simply a smaller mansion… nobody needs to hear your thoughts on success/work ethic. This same 24 hours in the day s— is a nightmare. 99.9% of the world grew up with a VERY different 24 hours.”