Kim Kardashian’s recent photoshoot with a Tesla Cybertruck and robot has sparked significant backlash, but this is just the latest in a long line of tone-deaf moments from the famous family. The images, which feature Kardashian posing intimately with a Tesla robot on a mattress by the ocean, showcase once again how disconnected the Kardashians are from average Americans and current social issues.
The Kardashian Origins: From O.J. to Reality TV
The family first gained public attention through Kim’s father, Robert Kardashian Sr., a successful attorney who became a household name when he joined O.J. Simpson’s defense team in the 1995 murder trial of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman.
Robert Kardashian’s involvement in what was dubbed “the trial of the century” put the family adjacent to celebrity culture. After Robert’s death from esophageal cancer in 2003, the family maintained connections to celebrity circles through Kris Jenner’s marriage to Olympic gold medalist Caitlyn Jenner (then known as Bruce). Kim had also begun making minor appearances in the tabloids as Paris Hilton’s friend and closet organizer, gaining peripheral exposure to celebrity culture.
Kim’s infamous tape with Ray J that catapulted the family into the spotlight. However, the family’s true catalyst to fame came in February 2007, when a private intimate tape featuring Kim and her then-boyfriend, R&B singer Ray J (recorded in 2002), was leaked to the public through Vivid Entertainment. The timing of the leak—just as reality TV was becoming a dominant cultural force—proved pivotal to the Kardashian trajectory.
What differentiated the Kardashians from other celebrities caught in similar scandals was their response. Rather than treating the tape as a devastating invasion of privacy, the family—particularly matriarch Kris Jenner—recognized its potential as a launching pad. While Kim initially filed a lawsuit against Vivid Entertainment, she ultimately settled for a reported $5 million, effectively monetizing what would have been career-ending for many others.
Within months of the tape’s release, the family had secured a reality TV deal with E! Network. “Keeping Up with the Kardashians” premiered in October 2007, strategically using the public’s curiosity about the tape’s main subject to drive viewership. The show’s first episode drew 1.3 million viewers—a substantial audience for a cable reality show featuring a family with no traditional celebrity credentials.
Since then, the Kardashians have built an empire on manufactured drama, cultural appropriation, and promoting unrealistic beauty standards.
The family’s feud with Taylor Swift revealed Kim’s willingness to manipulate narratives. In 2016, she released edited snippets of a phone call between Swift and Kanye West regarding his song “Famous,” which painted Swift as a liar. When the full recording leaked years later, it vindicated Swift and exposed Kim’s deceptive editing – yet Kardashian never fully acknowledged her role in the harassment Swift endured, including being labeled a “snake” by millions online.
The Tesla Misfire
The timing couldn’t have been worse for the Tesla-themed photoshoot. As reported by Yahoo, Kardashian posed with Tesla products “after almost two straight months of Tesla CEO Elon Musk assisting President Donald Trump in decimating the U.S. federal government.” Tesla vehicles have become politically charged symbols, with dealerships being targeted by vandals across the United States and Europe “as an act of protest against the Musk-Trump oligarchy.”
Meanwhile, regular Tesla owners are “abandoning their vehicles in droves” or going out of their way to clarify that ownership doesn’t constitute endorsement of Musk or Trump. Tesla’s stock has tanked as a result of this mass exodus, yet Kardashian seemingly ignored all these implications when agreeing to the shoot.
Wealth Without Responsibility
Despite their immense wealth and influence, the Kardashians rarely use their platform for meaningful societal change. Kim’s brief interest in prison reform and law school seemed promising, yet her actions often contradict any commitment to social justice. As one commenter on her Tesla photoshoot noted: “Weird. I thought you cared about civil rights, and that’s why you did that whole law school thing. Guess that wasn’t for serious or something.”
The family continues to prioritize wealth accumulation and attention over substance. Their lavish displays during economic hardship for many Americans, tone-deaf responses to global crises, and willingness to promote potentially harmful products for profit demonstrate a pattern of self-centered behavior.
The Cost of Kardashian Culture
The Kardashian influence extends beyond mere celebrity gossip – they’ve helped normalize excessive consumption, cosmetic procedures at young ages, and the commodification of the self. Their reality shows present wealth as the ultimate achievement and physical appearance as a woman’s primary value.
Their practices of digitally altering images while claiming authenticity have contributed to unrealistic beauty standards that impact their predominantly young female audience. Products they promote, from appetite suppressants to waist trainers, often prioritize profit over their followers’ wellbeing.
Moving Forward
The Tesla photoshoot controversy is merely the most recent example of the Kardashians’ disconnection from reality. While Kim claimed in her interview with Perfect Magazine that “the big joke of me even doing the shoot with the robot is that I feel like I’m so robotic,” the actual joke may be her inability to read the room or consider the broader implications of her actions.
As consumers of media and culture, perhaps it’s time we reconsider the outsized influence we’ve granted to a family whose primary contributions have been self-promotion and controversy. The criticism leveled at the Tesla photoshoot suggests that more people are becoming aware of this problematic pattern – and may finally be ready for something more substantive from those they elevate to celebrity status.
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