Khloé Kardashian Defending Kim Kardashian's Birthday Vacation Just Proves Their Privilege

For Kim Kardashian West’s 40th birthday, she gathered 20 to 25 of her nearest and dearest friends and flew them, by private jet, to a private island in Tahiti after “2 weeks of multiple health screens and asking everyone to quarantine,” per Kim’s tweets. After posting a series of envy-inducing photos of this birthday trip alongside captions about how “grateful” and “humbled” she was to do this, Twitter did what it does best and lit her up for flaunting her immense privilege in such a tone-deaf way, taunting all us poor regulars with the fact that the Covid-19 pandemic travel restrictions and distancing rules just don’t seem to apply to them. Now, Khloé Kardashian is defending her sister’s right to have taken this trip to Ellen DeGeneres, and we’re not finding the reasons she provides super compelling.

Chatting with TV host DeGeneres, Khloé addressed the backlash following her sister’s trip with a defense that can be summed up in two parts: It was good for tourism, and Kim really, really wanted to do it.

“Just being there and how grateful everybody was for the tourism aspect of it,” Khloé said. “So many people said that we were their first party or guest that they’ve had in months and what it’s done for them to be able to pay their bills or do stuff for their family…just hearing those messages when we were there we felt really good.”

It’s true that tourism has taken a devastating hit this year and many who work in the industry are in bad financial trouble. But only a Kardashian would learn that their vacation has enabled someone to pay rent for the first time in months and think, “wow, I’m doing a really good thing” instead of “wow, these people could not pay their rent before I got here.” That might have been an opportunity to gain some perspective, not tuck it into your back pocket to use as justification later.

If she wants to spin this as a charitable donation, they could have sent a check. And if I sound angry, maybe it’s because of how this quote continues.

“And we felt so safe,” Khloé added. “We did it in the safest way I could imagine someone doing it.”

Right — safe for who, though? Because frankly, I don’t think anyone in the world was worried about whether the Kardashians and their friends felt safe on this vacation. Instead, sympathy trended more toward the masked employees preparing food in the background of their party photos (where the guests were all unmasked).

Tourism concerns aside, Khloé’s real defense is basically this: “It’s her 40th and this is something that she really wanted to do for us.”

That’s all well and good. Next time, save us the aneurysm and keep it off social media.

Before you go, click here to see the richest celebrity kids.

Launch Gallery: An Inside Look at Where Khloé, Kourtney, & Kim Kardashian Are Living Right Now

More from SheKnows

• 40 Ways Kim Kardashian Has Completely Transformed Her Life

Best of SheKnows

• These Scary Books Will Get You Ready for Halloween

• 40 Celebrities Who Got Totally Naked on Camera

• All the Best & Most Shocking Celebrity Memoirs You Can Read Right Now

Sign up for SheKnows' Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.