Kim Kardashian Says She's 'Never Really Been Into' Cancel Culture: 'I Always Own Up' to Mistakes

The SKIMS founder says she continues to believe in people's ability to change

Photo: Christopher Polk/E! Entertainment/NBCUniversal/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty

Kim Kardashian West is sharing her experience with cancel culture, and why she thinks people should have the opportunity to grow and change.

The SKIMS mogul, 41, explained in an episode of Bari Weiss' podcast Honesty on Thursday that if she "worried about every last thing that someone said and I had to try to change it, then I would never be me. Anyone wouldn't be them. That's why I think cancel culture is the most ridiculous thing, because I really do believe ... in rehabilitation and freedom of speech. I've never really been into cancel culture."

Weiss highlighted some of the criticisms that Kardashian West has received over the years, including claims of appropriating Black culture (like with historically Black hairstyles) and one 2017 KKW Beauty campaign where Kardashian was accused of Blackface. Specifically, she noted the backlash that ensued when Kardashian first announced her SKIMS shapewear brand in 2019. The company was originally named Kimono, a name many said appropriated Japanese culture.

"Even if I know my intentions are good, I never want to take anything lightly," she said. "In the instance of Kimono and changing that name, it was an innocent name that the team came up with. But when I got a letter from the Japanese officials, I took it extremely seriously."

The decision to pivot the brand's name to SKIMS "wasn't even a question." She later added, "I always own up to the mistakes that I make and I try not to make them again. That's just how I live my life."

While Kardashian West said to Weiss that she is open to conversations about instances where people feel like she's being "disrespectful," the reality TV star said in general that "I believe that if we cancel someone for something that they had done or said in their past, then we're not inviting them into the conversation to really understand."

Also during the podcast, Kardashian West reflected on when her estranged husband Kanye West wore a red "Make America Great Again" hat for much of his October 2018 appearance on Saturday Night Live.

"You know what? I was very nervous. I didn't want him to wear the red hat on SNL," Kardashian West said. "And I kind of — not I kind of — I didn't understand it at the time."

Kardashian West said she requested West remove the hat, but now, reflecting, "I thought, 'Why should he take that off if that's what he believes in? Why can't he wear that on TV? Half of the country voted for [Trump] so clearly other people like him also. I learned a lot from that situation and no matter what, it taught me to be a little bit more empathetic for people that just want to do what they want to do, and freedom of speech — and if you want to wear the hat, wear the hat."