Everything That Upset the Internet This Week

by Meghan McKenna

What is the web-o-sphere angry about this week? A Kardashian sister showing off her privilege, coconut oil and an MTV reality series reboot. Here’s everything you need to know.

Kendall Jenner shows off her privilege

THE STORY: Last week, U.K.’s Love magazine posted an excerpt of its interview with Jenner from its September issue on Instagram. In the post, Jenner is quoted saying: “Since the beginning we’ve been super selective about what shows I would do. I was never one of those girls who would do like 30 shows a season or whatever the fuck those girls do. More power to ‘em. But I had a million jobs, not only catwalks but everything else.”

THE REACTION: 

RIGHTEOUSNESS OF THE RAGE: Without context, this sounds really bad. Jenner is speaking about her mental health, saying that she “was on the verge of a mental breakdown” and “needed to take a step back.” Which, you know what, is totally fair—it’s extremely important to take care of you mental health. But, what Jenner forgets, is that not everyone has a fat bank account to lean back on when they’re feeling on the edge and need a break. When you have privilege—especially in an industry where so many of your peers don’t—you need to check it. Which, we hoped, Jenner would do when she responded to the backlash. She didn’t.

On Tuesday evening, she wrote to Twitter: “I was misrepresented in a recent interview over the wknd [sic] & it’s important to clarify the meaning. It was intended to be entirely complimentary but unfortunately, my words were twisted & taken out of context. I want to be clear. The respect that I have for my peers is immeasurable!”

Okay…not exactly an apology. There’s a way to check your privilege, and there’s a way not to. For example, many people on Twitter drew a comparision between Kendall Jenner’s statement and an interview Gigi Hadid did with Vogue Australia earlier this year. The two supermodels, whose careers have in many ways mirrored one another, speak about their privilege in the modelling industry with very different language.

“I know I come from privilege, so when I started there was this big guilt of privilege, obviously,” Hadid said. “I’ve always had this big work ethic, because my parents came from nothing and I worked hard to honour them.” Hadid recalled how as a young model, her mother would send money earned from modelling in the US to her family back home in Holland. “There are so many girls who come [from] all over the world and work their arses off and send money home to their families like my mother did, and I wanted to stand next to them backstage and for them to look at me and respect me and to know that it’s never about me trying to overshadow or take their place. So when I started out I wanted to prove myself so badly that sometimes I would overwork myself.”

A Harvard professor calls coconut oil “pure poison”

THE STORY: In an educational talk about nutritional errors, Dr. Karin Michels, a professor at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, said that the coconut oil is “one of the worst foods you can eat.”

THE REACTION:

RIGHTEOUSNESS OF THE RAGE: I’m not a doctor, I have no idea if coconut oil is good or bad for you. (Though, before reading all this science nonsense, I definitely thought that using coconut oil as a butter substitute would definitely make me live longer. I think was wrong?)

With information coming from both sides, it’s hard to know what to believe. It would be a whole lot easier if all this nutrition stuff was a little more black and white. And that’s pretty much all I have to say about this. Oh, one quick question though: it’s totally okay if I continue using coconut oil for literally every step in my beauty routine, right?

The Hills is being rebooted — without Lauren Conrad

THE STORY: Cast members from The Hills, the hit MTV reality series that aired from 2006 to 2010, reunited at Monday’s VMAs to announce a revival of show. Spencer and Heidi Pratt (with their baby, Gunner), Audrina Patridge, Frankie Delgado, Jason Wahler, Justin “Justin Bobby” Brescia, and Stephanie Pratt all showed up to declare they’d be continuing the show’s legacy with The Hills: New Beginnings.

Notably missing: Brody Jenner, Whitney Port, Lo Bosworth, Kristen Cavallari. Oh, and Lauren Conrad.

THE REACTION:

RIGHTEOUSNESS OF THE RAGE: A source shared Lauren Conrad’s reason for skipping the reunion with People: “She’s in a different place in her life. But she wants everyone to enjoy themselves. She wishes everyone the best.”

Translation: Conrad is happily married with a 13 month old son. She is The New York Times bestselling author of nine books, helms her own website and brand and is co-founder of The Little Market, a nonprofit marketplace opening its first retail location in Pacific Palisades, California, next month.

Translation:

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