Not Even Babies Are Safe Around Joan Rivers

While Joan Rivers has made a career out of having a sense of humor that often pokes fun at herself and other celebrities, she definitely took it too far after making a pretty horrific comment over Kim and Kanye’s 7-month-old baby North West.

Since Kim and Joan share a network (E! Entertainment, which airs Keeping Up With The Kardashians as well as Joan’s show Fashion Police) Joan mentioned a recent occasion where Kim, her family, and baby North met up at the network’s office. And boy, were Joan’s quips on the matter pretty terrible.

“That baby is ugly,” she said to her Los Angeles audience during a stand-up act.. “I’ve never seen a 6-month-old so desperately in need of a waxing.” Yikes.

While celebrity-on-celebrity insults have become a part of our everyday tabloids, there are two different kinds. There’s cruel-funny (think Tina and Amy’s monologue at the Golden Globes. Obviously Matt Damon laughed off that “garbageman” comment) and there’s cruel-cruel (think Amanda Bynes, before she got better.) Joan’s comments are beyond both categories, as she’s insulting someone who isn’t even old enough to defend herself. Even worse, she’s shaming an infant based on her looks. How much lower can you get? Based on the fact that she said it during a routine, she did it for laughs. She wanted people to think that body-shaming someone elses’ child was hilarious.

Newsflash: It’s not. Children are becoming more and more aware of what the “standard of beauty” is. More than 90 percent of girls – 15 to 17 years – want to change at least one aspect of their physical appearance, and 80% of children who are 10 years old are afraid of being fat. While Kim did an excellent job with making light of the accusations that North West’s eyebrows were waxed after she shared a picture awhile back through Instagram, she shouldn’t have to defend her child every time she wants to post a photo. After all, Kim is a proud parent like many others you’ve probably witnessed on your Facebook feed. Having a celebrity like Joan mouth off about it is probably even more damaging, based on the amount of people she’s capable of reaching.

Joan responded to the media criticism through Twitter, claiming that the joke was taken “out of context”. She also stated that she loved the Kardashian family. Yet as a professional (and as a mother), she should have realized that badmouthing babies was in poor taste. Especially since at 80-years-old, she’s not new to the business, and has a catalog of funny material she could have used instead.

While the Kardashians chose to be on television, North West chose nothing at all. She didn’t choose her parents, she didn’t choose her name, and she didn’t get an opinion over where her pictures were sold. Despite having a famous last name, North is just a baby. While she might have luxuries that the babies in your family don’t, she probably thinks and acts in a similar way. She’s simply growing, smiling for the camera, and learning about the world through putting stuff in her mouth. And she shouldn’t be punished – especially in front of an audience – over the fact that her parents like to draw attention to themselves. If North were any other baby in the world, would you really make a negative comment over her eyebrows or facial features? Probably not.

While Joan has been amazing with helping the world of female comedians grow, she should recognize that she stepped over the line with this one. Seriously, girl. Fight someone your own size.

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