Kim Kardashian Apologizes for Defending Jeffree Star's Racist Comments: I Don't 'Have the Right to Speak on That'

"I do want to really apologize for me feeling like I had the right to say 'get over it' in a situation that involves racism," Kim Kardashian West said on Snapchat Tuesday

Kim Kardashian West is speaking out after receiving serious blowback for defending makeup artist and beauty vlogger Jeffree Star.

On Monday, Star took to Twitter to openly criticize the swatches of Kardashian West’s new powder contour kits after she showed off her new products on Snapchat by applying the makeup to her arm to show how it appears on the skin. Kardashian West’s fans jumped to her defense by slamming Star for racist comments he made in the past, which prompted the reality star to issue her take on the matter, taking to Snapchat to tell fans to “get off his ass” and stop “being so petty bringing up things in his past.” (In recent years, a series of 12-year-old videos of Star making offensive and racist comments have resurfaced, which he has apologized for.)

Kardashian West, 36, was promptly hit with a wave of criticism for defending Star, 31, and on Tuesday she took to Snapchat yet again to clarify and apologize for her comments.

Gary Gershoff/WireImage; Amy Harris/Invision/AP

“So I really wanted to apologize to you guys and my fans for defending a situation yesterday that I really didn’t know enough about,” she said. “I just feel a bit naïve, and I do want to really apologize for me feeling like I had the right to say ‘get over it’ in a situation that involves racism.”

“I just don’t really feel like I have the right to speak on that, and I really, really, really am sorry,” she said. “From the bottom of my heart, I’ve always been about positivity and I’ve never been a negative person, so my whole thing was: ‘Hey guys, I don’t want to see negativity in my timeline or my mentions, let’s just move forward — let’s be positive and move past this.’ ”

Now, the Keeping Up with the Kardashians star — who has been vocal about race relations and her views as a mom of biracial children in the past — admits she realizes she didn’t fully understand the message she was sending.

“I really am sorry, and I just want to move forward and be positive,” she repeated. “My last message is that I do believe that people are born to love and born with love, and they are taught to hate. So I have always had hopes that people can change and that people can learn to be better and do better, and learn to find that love again. So never give up hope. That is my message for the day and that’s always been what I’m trying to say. I believe in people changing, I believe in people just being better, and I’ll never give that up. I just want people to be positive.”

Despite Kardashian West’s apology, it was met with near-immediate criticism.

On Tuesday afternoon, Star took to Twitter to address the incident: “Every news and media outlet in the world has emailed and called my office all day asking me for a Kim. K quote.. Please f— off.”

The reality star’s original comments in defense of Star were prompted after she began to poke fun at herself for her makeup swatches, which Star said looked “like chalk” on Twitter.

“You’re stressing me the f— out!” she later said on Snapchat with a laugh. “Okay guys, I get it, I didn’t know how to f—ing swatch powders at the beginning. I’m learning!”

After fans began to attack Star, Kardashian West decided to speak out.

“Guys, I see that my fans are totally hating on someone like Jeffree Star for being honest about my struggle swatches but because of his remarks I’m learning how to swatch properly,” she said on Snapchat. “I see you being so petty bringing up things in his past where he was negative, but he’s also apologized for those things. I get it’s a serious deal if you say racial things but I do believe in people changing. People that apologize, I will give them the benefit of the doubt and accept that people change and move on.”

“I know better than anyone that I hate when people bring up my past or mistakes that I’ve made in the past, so let him live,” she continued. “Like, I welcome honest comments about my products and because of it, I’m swatching better now. So everyone get off his ass and let’s not be so negative. We’re all in this together, there’s room for all of us. Love you, Jeffree!”

Kardashian West’s comments sparked a wave of outrage on Twitter.

In her Monday Snapchat rant, Kardashian West expressed that while she doesn’t condone racism, she always wants to give everyone “the benefit of the doubt.”

“I want to make one last thing clear: I do not defend people that are racist and I’m very against it,” she said. “But if someone claims that they have changed, I would love to give them the benefit of the doubt and I pray to God that they do change for the sake of my children and my friends, so I want to give him the benefit of the doubt.”

“I do not support people that are racist and that’s why I so appreciate that he apologized and was really honest about the things that he said in the past,” she added. “So just enough, just don’t bring it up anymore is all I’m trying to say. People want to forget the negative things that they do in the past, and I do too.”