Kim Kardashian Gets Candid About Navigating Balenciaga Backlash: 'No Matter What, You Can't Win'

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Kim Kardashian is getting candid about navigating the recent Balenciaga backlash.

The Kardashians star, 42, opened up on the Angie Martinez IRL podcast about the public scrutiny she faced following the release of the brand's controversial holiday campaign that featured kids holding teddy bears dressed in bondage.

"With the Balenciaga thing… everyone was like, 'Why aren't you speaking out? Why aren't you speaking out?' And I'm like, 'Wait. I'm not in this campaign,'" Kardashian told Martinez. "'I don't know what's happening. Let me take a minute to like research this.'"

"And then as soon as I saw what everyone was seeing on the internet and the reality of the situation, I completely spoke out and gave my thoughts," she added.

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Kardashian posted a lengthy statement more than a week after the campaign was released denouncing it on social media and said that she would reevaluate her relationship with the brand. However, she noted that still wasn't enough for some people, and she continued to face hate online.

"But because I didn't say, 'F--- you, Balenciaga. That's it,' people got mad at that," she explained on the podcast. "So they're mad if I don't speak out. They're mad if I do speak out, and if I don't cancel."

The reality star said it was tough having to deal with that situation knowing that "no matter what you can't win."

"You don't want to be a part of the narrative, but you're brought in," Kardashian explained. "But then I have to take responsibility and say, 'Okay, people look at me as the face of this, so let me speak out.' I just always want to do the right thing."

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Balenciaga released the campaign on Nov. 16, and social media users were quick to call it out, accusing the brand of sexualizing children in the ad. Within a week of the campaign's release, its photographer Gabriele Galimberti released a statement saying, he "was not entitled in whatsoever manner to neither chose [sic] the products, nor the models, nor the combination of the same."

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Balenciaga then issued a statement on Nov. 24, saying, "We sincerely apologize for any offense our holiday campaign may have caused. Our plush bear bags should not have been featured with children in this campaign. We have immediately removed the campaign from all platforms."

The luxury fashion house added to this in a lengthy follow-up statement posted four days later, saying that the brand "takes responsibility" for its "series of grievous errors" regarding the campaign, and said it would implement "new controls" to prevent it from happening again. The brand also said it was reaching out to "organizations who specialize in child protection and aim at ending child abuse and exploitation."