Last night’s Emmys was a heady mix of social commentary, emotional experiences and happy surprises. But then there was the moment when Kim Kardashian West and Kendall Jenner were laughed at onstage, and things began to take on a different tone.
The whole thing started when the sisters came out to present the award for Outstanding Reality TV Series. Kardashian West kicked things off by saying, “Our family knows firsthand how truly compelling television comes from real people just being themselves.” Jenner followed it up with the line, “Telling their stories, unfiltered and unscripted.” The audience immediately erupted into laughter. Kardashian and Jenner persevered, though, and announced the categories and the winner: RuPaul’s Drag Race.
There’s a lot to unpack here. It’s certainly rude to hear laughter when you’re speaking onstage in front of a live audience, and while the two didn’t read the lines as a joke, they seem to have been written as one. Since its debut in 2007, Keeping Up With the Kardashians has been accused numerous times of faking scenes and scripting plot lines.
Kardashian West and mom Kris Jenner were openly caught filming right after Kardashian West filed for divorce from Kris Humphries. And Kanye West, Kardashian West’s husband, has been openly critical of how his wife presents herself on the show, asking that she be more real.
There was awkward audience laughter when Kim Kardashian and Kendall Jenner said their family tells their stories "unfiltered and unscripted." Yikes. #Emmys2019pic.twitter.com/H6XH3g6L1L
— Ryan Schocket (@RyanSchocket) September 23, 2019
That’s on top of all the fallout from the scandal involving Khloé Kardashian, her ex Tristan Thompson, and Jordyn Woods, which many have believed was nothing more than a publicity stunt to get ratings. So, there’s definitely an authenticity problem when it comes to the Kardashian-Jenners.
https://twitter.com/ScottFeinberg/status/1175934855281958912
In the 12 years the series has been on the air, it’s never been nominated for an Emmy. Were the Kardashians invited for the ceremony to get its own ratings boost? To compel the Kardashians’ large fanbase to give the Emmys a view? It seems a bit too pointed to invite them purely to be laughed at, so there had to be a collaboration of some kind going on.
If anything, the clip has gone viral, giving everyone a healthy dose of publicity. So, laughing at the famous pair onstage was either the worst thing the audience could do — or the best thing to happen to the Kardashians this week. You be the judge.
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