Keeping Up with the Kardashians became popular by borrowing Blackness and mimicking Black womanhood

Slate

"Though of course the Kardashians never went as far as Rachel Dolezal or Jessica Krug in claiming 'transracialism' or Black identification, they still capitalized on the working-class Black aesthetic," says Robyn M. Boylorn. "Blackfishing is a term coined by cultural critic Wanna Thompson to refer to cultural co-optation, including cosmetic or physical manipulation to a white person’s appearance to imply Blackness, biraciality, or racial ambiguity. On Keeping Up With the Kardashians, I saw Blackfishing everywhere: in their Fulani braids, Bantu knots, and cornrows, in their do-rags and surgically enhanced full lips and big asses. Their Blackfishing raised their profile as influencers, to the detriment of actual Black women. Their adoption of a racial aesthetic, without the inconvenience or penalties of Blackness, has reiterated the ways cultural Blackness is celebrated while embodied Blackness is denigrated. As a Black woman in her then 30s, now 40s, I am aware I was not the target demographic for Keeping Up With the Kardashians. But the more I watched the rising popularity of the reality stars, the more I saw how the Kardashian-Jenner sisters accumulated fame and wealth by borrowing Blackness and mimicking Black womanhood. While the main characters and protagonists were white women (of Armenian descent), their popularity and cultural relevance often came at the expense of Black women and Black culture."