Not a fan! Jenna Bush Hager slammed the “yassify” trend that creates “fake” photos using beauty filters.
“Y’all, are we turning everybody into a Kardashian?” the 41-year-old star asked during the Friday, April 14, episode of Today With Hoda & Jenna after seeing multiple stars transformed into “cartoon” looking individuals. “Is that the point?”
Bush Hager and her cohost, Hoda Kotb, sat down with pal Michelle Collins on Friday to rate a few current trends, including the “short king spring” lifestyle. The phrase refers to tall women dating shorter men, like Sophie Turner and her husband, Joe Jonas.
While the talk show hosts seemed on board with that idea, they didn’t approve of “yassifying for anonymity.”
According to Collins, photos can be “yassified” to completely change one’s look with several filter modifications. After seeing a few examples of Meryl Streep and Shakira being altered, Kotb, 58, and Bush Hager were shown their own doctored photos — and they didn’t like it.
“Oh boy. No, no, no,” Kotb said, adding that the edit made her and Bush Hager look “phony.” The Sisters First coauthor agreed, saying, “We look so fake.”
Bush Hager concluded that “everybody looks like a Bratz doll,” referring to the popular 2000s toys that are known for their smooth complexions, large eyes and pouty lips.
The Kardashians, for their part, have long been accused of Photoshopping their photos on social media.
In February, Kendall Jenner received backlash after she shared a snap crouching down in a bikini balancing on one hand. Eagle-eyed fans noticed that the 27-year-old’s fingers looked a little too long and concluded the image must’ve been edited.
The 818 Tequila founder, however, shut down the speculation on February 15 by sharing an Instagram Live video of her hands in real time.
“[For anyone] sitting here analyzing, look how bizarre her hand looks normally!” Hailey Bieber (née Baldwin), who is one of Jenner’s BFFs, announced at the time while zooming in on the model’s fingers. “This is live.”
Bieber, 26, captioned the clip with multiple alien and spaceship emojis, writing, “Been had long ass hands x fingers.”
One month later, Khloé Kardashian came under scrutiny after posting sexy snaps from her best friend Malika Haqq and her twin sister Khadijah’s 40th birthday. Fans claimed that the Good American founder’s leg appeared altered in one picture.
Social media users also alleged that the background was blurry behind Kardashian’s waist in a second image. While the 38-year-old reality star didn’t respond to the accusations, she did delete the pictures in question. (Over the years, the Kardashian family has admitted to using Photoshop. Khloé, for example, confessed in 2016 during an appearance on Chelsea Does that Facetune is “life-changing,” confirming she’s used the tool.)
Bush Hager’s comments about the “yassify” filter came days after she opened up about body-shaming and her own insecurities as a young girl.
“I had a boyfriend in seventh grade who broke up with me after we went swimming together after he saw me in a bathing suit,” the former first daughter revealed during the Wednesday, April 12, episode of Today With Hoda and Jenna while speaking about Ariana Grande’s recent body-shaming clapback. “It’s so interesting because people really do hit you right where it hurts.”
The Everything Is Beautiful in Its Time author noted that her ex-boyfriend’s actions still affect her today. “I feel like, even sometimes now, when I feel great — I have three kids [who were born via] three C-sections, I feel really in my body and I think of it as a beautiful thing — I’ll walk in a pool and have a moment [of panic],” she continued.
Bush Hager — who shares daughters Mila, 9, and Poppy, 7, and son Hal, 3, with husband Henry Hager — confessed: “There’s been times when we’ve done this show when people have written about our body and it takes you back to that moment.”
The journalist concluded her message by agreeing with Kotb’s body positive sentiments. “We need to stop commenting on women’s bodies. Period,” Bush Hager told her cohost on Wednesday. “You said it perfectly, ‘We’re in our bodies.’”
