What Is Blackfishing And How Is Kim Kardashian Doing It With Her Braids?

They call it blackfishing — black + catfishing — and outside of calling it cultural appropriation and being a culture vulture, there probably isn’t a better label out there. So, what does this have to do with Kim Kardashian? Well,the reality star has once again opted to rock some braids, and once again she’s being called out for her blatant Black girl biting.

While in Paris for fashion week, KK stepped out for her husband’s Yeezy season 8 showing, but she herself stole the show with her unique choice of hairstyles. Get into this thang from all angles…

Kim Kardashian West

Kim Kardashian West

Of course, folks were up in arms over her perpetual insistence on snatching her style inspo from the sistas…

girl how many times with the hair …

— ctina (@babyystina) March 3, 2020

girl how many times with the hair …

— ctina (@babyystina) March 3, 2020

But, a lot of the online sentiment was this…

I'm confused. Why create a problem why not love the fact she is embracing your https://t.co/D4OKESpfOq black friends use to love braiding my hair.And I loved them doing https://t.co/HEQCClB1PE lot creating things for no reason. It's beautiful.

— Maryam (@Maryammmm1989) March 3, 2020

However, these tweet nailed it.

Stripped and stolen. Black women have gotten fired, criticized , even spat on Little girls can’t even go to school with braids in their hair because it’s called ugly and unprofessional for the styles that Kim Kardashian have has had in her hair But it’s cool because she is Kim K

— a girl who does art stuff😋 (@tetsyarts) March 2, 2020

Because in America black women don’t get jobs because there hair is “distracting” and not “pleasing to the eye” but when white women do it it’s all of a sudden “cute” and “different” it’s basically disrespect and it’s happened to me before

— kurly_lightskin (@KurlyLightskin) March 3, 2020

Honestly, no one really cares what this girl does with her hair. Literally, no one. However, the problem is that Kim often wears these styles, mimics her body to resemble, and is often very influenced by Black culture. But, she rarely credits the originators, which can be problematic when folks start to believe your are the creator of this cool and you simply aren’t. Furthermore, when white women embrace Black culture in this way and are praised for it, while black women are still being disrespected, demeaned, stereotyped, and disenfranchised because they are embracing their own culture, is not only unfair and infuriating, it’s also detrimental to our existence. So, yea, that’s the real problem.

But sure, it’s just hair, right?