Already have an account?
Get back to the

Kylie Jenner Gets Backlash for Posing in a Wheelchair

Kylie Jenner
Kylie Jenner is receiving backlash online after posing in a wheelchair

Kylie Jenner is facing major backlash after she posed in a wheelchair for photos featured in Interview magazine’s December issue.

Related: PHOTOS: Kardashian Family Album

The Keeping Up With the Kardashians star, 18, poses with the gold wheelchair while wearing S&M-inspired clothing and accessories, as she stares off into space in the photos, which were released on Tuesday, Dec. 1. In another pic, she raises her legs provocatively.

Related: PHOTOS: Kardashian Family Vacation Album!

“You cannot both condemn and mock us for using wheelchairs when you let abled people use them for ‘FASHION,’ one person wrote on Twitter. “It’s disgusting.”

“As someone in a wheelchair @KylieJenner @InterviewMag, this is offensive,” another person tweeted. “My chair is not haute couture.”

Others also questioned why the photographer, Steven Klein, wasn’t facing any backlash.

“Kylie did not have to go with the wheelchair pic, but also what about the photographer?” one user of the social media platform wondered. “Why aren’t you guys talking about his part?

“It’s deeply disturbing,” Emily Smith Beitiks, associate director of the Paul K. Longmore Institute on Disability in San Francisco, told CNN of the photos. “People with disabilities are already seen as powerless, and this just reinforces that.”

In response to the backlash, the publication offered an explanation to E! News shortly afterwards.

“At Interview, we are proud of our tradition of working with great artists and empowering them to realize their distinct and often bold visions,” the magazine said in a statement. “The Kylie Jenner cover by Steven Klein, which references the British artist Allen Jones, is a part of this tradition, placing Kylie in a variety of positions of power and control and exploring her image as an object of vast media scrutiny. Throughout the Art issue, we celebrate a variety of women who are both the creators and subjects of their artistic work, and the Kylie feature aims to unpack Kylie’s status as both engineer of her image and object of attention. Our intention was to create a powerful set of pictures that get people thinking about image and creative expression, including the set with the wheelchair. But our intention was certainly not to offend anyone.”

Tell Us: What do you think of the images?

In this article

Got a Tip form close button
Got a tip for US?
We're All Ears for Celebrity Buzz!