Kylie Jenner’s Wheelchair Photos Cause Twitter Fury
(Photo: Interview magazine)
The latest Kardashian-Jenner controversy is deeper than just the amount of clothing one of them was wearing in a photograph. It was also the way that Kylie Jenner, 18, posed during a photo shoot for the new issue of Interview magazine: in a wheelchair.
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The magazine issued an exclusive statement to E! News defending its choice.
“At Interview, we are proud of our tradition of working with great artists and empowering them to realize their distinct and often bold visions. The Kylie Jenner cover by Steven Klein, which references the British artist Allen Jones, is a part of this tradition, placing Kylie in a variety of positions of power and control and exploring her image as an object of vast media scrutiny."
(Photo: Interview magazine)
The statement continues, "Throughout the Art Issue, we celebrate a variety of women who are both the creators and subjects of their artistic work, and the Kylie feature aims to unpack Kylie’s status as both engineer of her image and object of attention. Our intention was to create a powerful set of pictures that get people thinking about image and creative expression, including the set with the wheelchair. But our intention was certainly not to offend anyone."
Intention or not, they certainly did offend. A small sampling of the posts on social media:
So disabled models can’t get work or advance in the fashion industry but Kylie jenner can use a wheelchair and be classed as edgy 👌
— Beth (@Bendy_Mermaid) December 1, 2015
This right here is why I don’t rate Kylie Jenner. A gold wheelchair? Disability isn’t a glamorous fad. pic.twitter.com/5kpKgxdtPq
— zara (@zaraisfierce) December 1, 2015
@KylieJenner wow being in a wheelchair is so fun and fashionable! #Ableism is the ultimate fashion statement! pic.twitter.com/lOScQnODhy
— Ophelia Brown (@bandaidknees) December 1, 2015
In an interview with CNN, Emily Smith Beitiks, associate director of the Paul K. Longmore Institute on Disability in San Francisco, called the pics of Kylie wearing a fetish ensemble and a robotic expression "deeply disturbing."
"People with disabilities are already seen as powerless, and this just reinforces that,” Betikis told the network. “I think she’s literally being objectified [and] made to look like a sex doll, and this wheelchair is an added element of passivity they’re adding on."
The teen reality star did not immediately respond to the backlash on her much-followed social media accounts.
