By Teri Christoph | RedState.com
AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez
It’s a rarity these days for a celebrity, particularly from the sporting world, to make a bold statement on the moral decay festering in popular culture, so Super Bowl MVP Cooper Kupp deserves praise for taking on the child fetishists at Balenciaga. As RedState’s Brandon Morse reported last week:
Balenciaga, the high-end fashion brand, released a photoshoot that includes children in the photos. Upon closer inspection, you can see some very odd things about the bears the children are holding.
For one, the bears are clearly dressed in bondage garb, including studded leather bracelets and fishnet shirts.
You’ve probably seen the photos by now, including the one that shows an innocent little girl clutching an extremely ugly teddy bear made uglier by the adult-themed accessories adorning it; the girl is in a room full of wine glasses, bondage gear, and other paraphernalia meant to shock. She, of course, doesn’t understand the meaning behind it, but the adults behind the campaign surely did.
Bad actors like Balenciaga need to be shamed publicly and relentlessly. Kupp did just that, calling for the fashion house to be held responsible for their disgusting campaign.
Pro-tip for Kim Kardashian: This is the only appropriate response to this situation.
Kardashian, in sharp contrast to Kupp, put out a mealy-mouthed declaration that while she was “shaken” and “disgusted” by the images, she was merely going to “re-evaluate” her relationship with the brand.
‘I have been quiet for the past few days, not because I haven’t been shocked and outraged by the recent Balenciaga campaigns, but because I wanted an opportunity to speak to their team to understand for myself how this could have happened,’ the Los Angeles-born celebrity said in a statement on her Instagram page.
She continued: ‘As a mother of four, I have been shaken by those disturbing images. The safety of children must be held with the highest regard and anything against it should have no place in our society – period.’
She subsequently reissued the statement that saw some of the wording changed using stronger language adding: ‘any attempts to normalize child abuse of any kind should have no place in our society – period.’
“Any attempts to normalize child abuse of any kind should have no place in our society – period.” She should have stopped there. She didn’t. Kardashian went on to completely negate her chastisement of the disgusting ad campaign by blathering on: “As for my future with Balenciaga, I am currently re-evaluating my relationship with the brand, basing it off their willingness to accept accountability for something that should have never happened to begin with — & the actions I am expecting to see them take to protect children.”
In other words, she’s hoping this story gets overtaken by another news cycle so she can keep milking the Balenciaga cash cow. It’s yet another Strongly Worded Statement issued by a faux-outraged celebrity that is, in fact, utterly meaningless. Not that we expected better of a Kardashian.
Balenciaga has apologized for the misguided and depraved campaign they developed, but it’s going to take a lot more Cooper Kupps of the world to speak up and denounce the exploitation of children to bring about real change. Kim Kardashian, for her part, has shown she has the moral backbone of a chocolate eclair.
