Kendall Jenner got called out on Twitter for her choice of emoji
It’s kind of wild that emojis, the seemingly harmless text symbols we know, love, and use daily, can be the root cause of conflict within the social media community. But an emoji choice is exactly what caused Kendall Jenner to be called out via Twitter, proving that yes, the world is a weirder place than perhaps we all thought.
Jenner posted a photo of the Hollywood Reporter cover on which she appears with her four sisters and their mother, on Twitter. When tweeting out the Kardashian-Jenner tribe pic, the model captioned it, “sister power…girl power.”
She also added the “medium” shade fist bump emoji to her tweet.
sister power…girl power 👊🏽 pic.twitter.com/QzIziXVV0A
— Kendall (@KendallJenner) August 16, 2017
Of course, there aren’t any written rules revolving around which skin tone emoji one should use based on their real skin tone, but it stands to reason that you should probably use emoji skin tone that most closely matches yours — especially if you’re a very visible part of a very visible family that has been very visibly criticized for cultural appropriation. And Jenner’s followers and critics were not about to cut her much slack.
Me looking at the color of that emoji pic.twitter.com/M6DiOlykru
— Sasha the Bratz Doll 👸🏾 (@TrackCityChick) August 18, 2017
Y'all are not black. Next time use a white emoji
— Shawnabeauty💖 (@Shawnaloveeee_) August 19, 2017
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Cultural appropriation power pic.twitter.com/L2h60bOaio
— stup-lyd. (@lydiawescg) August 17, 2017
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Although it’s valid to be upset about the idea that Jenner is possibly claiming to be darker than she really is, other Twitter users wanted to point out the absurdity of bashing a celebrity based on an emoji.
Y'all have reached a new low. to the point y'all r mad at Kendall Jenner for using the black 👊🏾 emoji instead of the 👊🏻 one. MENTAL ILLNESS
— Barry Spike 🎙 (@SpikeReeds) August 19, 2017
https://twitter.com/udfredirect/status/899398190612467712
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There is no right or wrong way to feel about Jenner’s tweet. It’s always important to question the implications a celebrity or influencer’s actions, and social media users are always here to play that role.