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Former employees of Kim Kardashian have hit out at the celebrity and alleging poor working conditions and low pay at the TV star’s firms, after she made controversial comments about work ethics.
As reported by Metro, the reality star-turned-businesswoman came under fire this week following an interview with Variety, in which she offered advice for women in the business world.
Kardashian, 41, told the publication: “I have the best advice for women in business.
“Get your f**king ass up and work. It seems like nobody wants to work these days.”
Her comments were met with a huge backlash on social media. Some lambasted the advice as ‘tone deaf’, while one commenter offered a tongue-in-cheek extra piece of advice of “Also: be born rich. Really helps.”
The comments also earned the ire of some of the billionaire’s former employees.
As cited by Metro, a beauty critic Jessica DeFino who includes the New York Times and Slate on her distinguished CV, took to social media to share her unpleasant experience of previously working for Kardashian.
On Twitter, DeFino wrote: “I was an editor on the Kardashian apps in 2015 in LA, worked days nights & weekends, could only afford groceries from the 99 Cents Only Store, called out “sick” more than once bc I couldn’t put gas in my car to get to the office, & was reprimanded for freelancing on the side.”
I was an editor on the Kardashian apps in 2015 in LA, worked days nights & weekends, could only afford groceries from the 99 Cents Only Store, called out “sick” more than once bc I couldn’t put gas in my car to get to the office, & was reprimanded for freelancing on the side https://t.co/mzvnTomjS3
— Jessica DeFino (@jessicadefino_) March 9, 2022
Another ex-employee also shared details of her time working for Kardashian.
Celene Zavala, a programming director at CNN+, is, according to the Daily Mail, thought to have worked as an unpaid intern assistant for the businesswoman.
The publication reported that Zavala responded to Variety’s tweet, which was publicising the Kardashian interview, with the message: “I worked my little college a** off for free for Kimberly.”
At the time of publication, Kim Kardashian had not responded to requests for comment from several outlets.
'We all have the same 24 hours'
The reality star is far from the only celebrity-turned-businessperson to spark fury in recent months following comments about work ethics.
Former Love Island contestant Molly-Mae Hague was recently compared to Margaret Thatcher following comments she made during a podcast, in which she endorsed the idea that success comes from a ‘believe and you can achieve’ mindset.
22-year-old Hague rose to fame when she appeared on Love Island in 2019 and is the contestant who has achieved most success off the back of the show. Currently dating boxer and reality TV star Tommy Fury, she has over six million followers on Instagram and is rarely out of the spotlight.
Last year, she was appointed Creative Director at fast fashion brand Pretty Little Things, with a reported seven figure salary. Speaking on Steven Bartlett’s Diary of a CEO podcast in December about her new leadership role, she said, "You’re given one life and it’s down to you what you do with it. You can literally go in any direction."
"When I’ve spoken about that in the past, I have been slammed a little bit, with people saying, 'It’s easy for you to say that, you’ve not grown in poverty, you’ve not grown up with major money struggles, so for you to sit there and say that we all have the same 24 hours in a day, it’s not correct."
"And I’m like, but technically what I’m saying is correct. We do. So I understand that we all have different backgrounds and we’re all raised in different ways and we do have different financial situations, but I do think if you want something enough, you can achieve it."
She also said: ‘It just depends on what lengths you want to go to get where you want to be in the future. And I’ll go to any length. I’ve worked my absolute a**e off to get where I am now."
When the comments resurfaced in a clip that did the rounds on Twitter in January, Hague’s remarks drew instant approbation for their ‘tone deaf’ nature.
One Tweet said: "I should’ve put Molly Mae being Margaret Thatcher with a tan on my 2022 bingo card" (sic). Another read: "Worked her **** off? She sat on a sun lounger for a couple of weeks on the TV. Absolute joke that these people are given a platform."
Former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was a proponent of the ‘pull yourselves up by the bootstraps’ mentality which dictates that if anyone works hard enough, they can do well for themselves – regardless of their background and the opportunities available to them. It’s an idea that’s often found in modern leadership – ‘believe and you can achieve’ is an idea endorsed by Tony Robbins, for example. He talks about how "the core of self-belief is realising that you – and only you – are the driver of your own success."
In her executive role for Pretty Little Things, it seems that Hague was echoing this mindset.
However, as presenter and podcaster Jess Davies pointed out on Twitter: "I respect Molly Mae for making the most of her opportunity & grabbing the opportunity with both hands, but I DESPAIR at the quote about everyone having the same time in the day as Beyonce. The reality is that social inequality means there’ll never be an equal playing field."
"If you’re on a low income, disabled, have children or are having to deal with any other number of situations the idea that you have 16 hours a day to dedicate to your *passion* with no other considerations is wildly naive," commented another Twitter user.
