Scott Disick came under fire after he Instagrammed a photo on Thursday, January 3, of his 6-year-old daughter, Penelope, pulling at her eyes while dining at a Japanese restaurant.
“Best date of 2019,” Disick captioned the picture in question. Within minutes, the comments came pouring in.
“I’m Asian and that was racist,” wrote one fan. Added another: “She must have seen someone do it to think it’s okay.” A third called Penelope’s behavior “inappropriate” and scolded the Keeping Up With the Kardashians star for not correcting his child.
A fourth person noted that Penelope is a “very cute kid,” but added, “teach her not to do the Chinese eye thing at a sushi restaurant. Don’t teach her to be a racist. Cause that’s what’s gonna happen.”
But not everyone was offended. Many people pointed out that Penelope was pulling her eyelids up and not to the side and that she was just making a harmless funny face as kids often do.
“I’m Chinese. If you mock Asian eyes, you pull OUT not UP,” wrote a Disick supporter. Reasoned another: “She is a little f-king girl making a goofy face in a picture with her dad.” One woman wanted to know, “What race of people even have eyes like that???? Seriously get a life, it’s a child who wouldn’t even know what racism is.”
Disick shares Mason, 9, Penelope and Reign, 4, with his ex Kourtney Kardashian. The former couple ended their tumultuous on-and-off relationship in 2015. But a source told Us Weekly in November, the two are in a better place than ever. The coparents even vacationed in Mexico with Disick’s 20-year-old girlfriend, Sofia Richie, last month.
“Kourtney, Scott and Sofia are one modern family,” a source close told Us in December. “It wasn’t a surprise that Sofia went away with them — it was a family trip. Sofia and Scott are together, they are in love and she’s part of the family now.”
