Staff Picks

The End of an Era: "Keeping Up with the Kardashians" Just Ended. But Will We Be Free?

The Kar-Jenners have built their empire at the expense of the marginalized groups they steal from

Kim Kardashian

Evan Agostini/Invision/AP/Shutterstock

It's the end of an era, and oh how times have changed.

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TV News

Who's to Blame in the Slapfight That Pushed Kourtney to Quit KUWTK?

In the season premiere of Keeping up With the Kardashians Kim's criticism of Kourtney finally pushed things too far

Diggzy/Shutterstock

These days it's hard to imagine anyone getting mad at another person for staying home sick.

The best reason to get mad at someone during the coronavirus pandemic is that they refuse to stay home. But that wasn't the case last September, when the Kardashian family's usual tension and in-fighting escalated to physical blows between Kourtney and Kim.

It was around the time Kylie Jenner was scheduled to have a major moment at the Balmain Spring 2020 fashion show in Paris. As the season premiere of Keeping Up With the Kardashians documents, Kylie was planning to represent Kylie Cosmetics at the event—and was in the process of planning out looks for the models—when she became violently ill. According to posts made to Twitter and Instagram, Kylie had a case of strep throat that was so bad she was bleeding from the mouth and had to be hospitalized, with Kylie later tweeting, "It was the sickest I've ever been."

But apparently Kim Kardashian West was not convinced of her half-sister's illness, and she was not concerned for the well-being of all the models and attendees that Kylie could have infected—we used to be so careless pre-2020! She felt strongly that she and Khloé were the only sisters who knew the value of hard work, and she let Kourtney know that she and Kylie were letting down the family, stating matter-of-factly, "You don't care about stuff" and, "If I were on my deathbed, I would still show up." Cool...

This is not the first time that Kim, 39, has directed this kind of criticism at her older sister—the infamous fight over the Christmas photo shoot was much the same—but it was apparently the last straw for Kourtney, 40, who interrupted Kim to say, "You act like I don't do sh*t … You have this narrative in your mind—" which is when Kim cut her off. Kourtney continued trying to mount a defense while Kim interjected with her criticism until Kourtney finally came out with, "I will literally f*ck you up" and quickly showed that it was not an empty threat.

The exchange of slaps, kicks, punches, and digging fingernails has to be seen to be fully appreciated—though footage of kangaroos fighting in the wild will get you 90% of the way there.

In the aftermath of the fight airing on national TV, Kourtney all but officially confirmed that she will not be returning to the show. It's always sad to see a family business falling apart over this kind of sibling drama—even if the family business was to constantly be on the brink of falling apart over sibling drama—but the question remains, whose fault was it?

Actually, never mind, it was Kim's. Without a doubt. Good for her that she's a hard worker—and she has actually done some impressive things in recent years—but her attitude that her siblings are supposed to live according to her standards, and that she knows better than they do about their own health, is insufferable—especially from a younger sister. Kourtney should not have flown off the handle, but Kim should have seen that she was striking a nerve and backed off rather than escalating it—and actually slapping her sister across the face with a lot more force than Kourtney managed.

Kangaroo Boxing Fight | Life Story | BBC Earthwww.youtube.com

In a series of tweets on the incident, Kourtney said, "It's trash #KUWTK." And when another user suggested that the fight had been the motivation she needed to finally leave the show—after previously deciding to cut way down on her involvement—Kourtney responded, "It is from our darker moments where growth happens." Grammar aside, it would be nice if she followed through this time and we no longer have to see this kind of drama without the soothing tones of David Attenborough's narration to reassure us that the kangaroos will be okay.

Kanye West attends the Manus x Machina Fashion in an Age of Technology Costume Institute Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Photo by: By Ovidiu Hrubaru / Shutterstock

Everyone knows that it's a good and positive thing to find positivity and goodness in the world.

But not everyone is a visionary, once-in-a-generation genius capable of producing groundbreaking music, religious revival, and weird-looking shoes. If we were, then we would have come up with the party game—or "bored" game, as West punned—that Kanye and family showcased on this weekend's episode of Keeping Up With the Kardashians. The good news is, you don't have to be Kanye West, or even to know Kanye West, to play this game with your own loved ones.

The rules are simple. Keep your pockets stuffed with pocket dictionaries so that, when the mood strikes, you can produce and distribute said dictionaries to everyone who wants to play. The only other equipment you need to play is a heart full of love and a highlighter. Pick a page in the dictionary and have everyone flip to that page together. Now take a minute to go through that page in silence, everyone highlighting the words they think are "positive." Once everyone is done highlighting, it's time to convene and discuss your results with the group.

This is where the magic happens. Did everyone highlight "precious," but only one person highlighted "precarious?" Why did they do that? Do they not know how the game works, or do they not know what that word means? If they don't know what that word means, why didn't they just read the definition? More importantly, who the hell highlighted MAGA? There are no wrong answers, but they need to explain why they think something that no one agrees with.

As Kanye says, "This always sparks these kinds of conversations." "These kind of conversations" being disagreements about whether "barter" is technically positive, since it "could also introduce so many negative things," and an insistent request for an explanation of why Kim highlighted "basic"—"You're not wrong or right, I just want to know why."

Thrilling. This is not the first time Kanye has espoused the wonders of reading the dictionary. Apparently he uses this exercise to assist in the song-writing process for his Sunday services. And now that you know how to play at home, you and the people you love can unlock your own religious muses by debating the emotional value of words such as "tedious," "hector," and "discord."

My only issue with the game as demonstrated is the fact that not even one member of the group highlighted "barrel." Do they have any idea how useful barrels have been to human civilization?! Do they hate beer, and wine, and oil, and basically the entire history of seafaring? Don't they know the philosophical teachings of Diogenes the Cynic? Do they have some kind of issue with the cooper community? Or maybe they're just a bunch of morons who wouldn't know true positivity if it bit them on the ass!

I don't even want to play this game anymore! Not with that bunch of jerks! I'm going to my room!

FILM & TV

Reality TV Royalty | ‘Keeping up with the Kardashians’ returns to Bravo

The much anticipated reality TV show revealed a lot in its epic return — while also leaving a bunch of juicy details out

Reality TV Royalty

'KUWTK' was anything but satisfactory. Sure the episode revealed the usual drama that the infamous family faces every day, but not the answer to a question we've wondered about for a while now.

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