Early Monday morning, five men falsely dressed as cops raided Kim Kardashian’s apartment in Paris, France, for Fashion Week.
Before making off with supposedly about $10 million in jewelry, the men tied the celebrity’s hands with zip ties, taped her mouth and held her at gunpoint in her bathroom, threatening to kill her if she didn’t comply.
What a year this has been.
The five assailants were reported to have handcuffed, tied up, gagged and locked up a male concierge. Two of the five entered Kardashian’s room before assaulting the “Keeping Up with the Kardashians” star.
Despite this, it appears very little of the internet actually cares about Monday’s incident, some going so far as to brush it off as a publicity stunt for the upcoming season of “Keeping Up with the Kardashians.”
I will admit, this story doesn’t entirely add up. There were apparently no bodyguards present before the attack, most of the articles on the event have anonymous sources, and none of us know exactly how Kardashian freed herself from being tied up in the bathroom.
Some are even speculating that Kardashian faked the whole thing in order to help pay off West’s $53 million debt. If that’s not crazy enough, there’s virtually no existing security footage of the incident.
If this whole thing turns out to be a hoax, it could be very detrimental to Kardashian’s career. With that said, our lack of knowledge on the subject should be precisely why no concrete judgement should be made. That’s just a good sense of justice.
Regardless of how you may feel about the rich or Kardashian herself, severe attacks such as this should never be met with mockery or hatefulness. You can’t expect help for the common person if you deny it to a more distinguished one.
If you brush off this act of violence simply because of Kardashian’s wealth or fame, then you are, by default, minimalizing the significant number of similar attacks that happen to others every year. Fame is not a gateway to dehumanization, nor is it armor against hateful behavior.
According to an ongoing report from Us magazine, Kardashian feared for her life during the raid, believing she would be sexually assaulted or killed. She was hysterically crying and begging for her life to the attackers, who apparently did not speak English.
Kanye West cut off his concert in Queens, New York, as soon as he heard about the incident. West has proceeded to reschedule two of his tour dates in December because of the incident, according to a press release from Live Nation.
Of course, the prospect of stealing from the rich goes even further back than Robin Hood, but such large-scale robberies from A-list Hollywood celebrities is a pretty new idea. In fact, Paris itself acts as a sort of kingdom for thievery and is home to a large number of professional pickpockets and robbers.
Between August 2008 and October 2009, a group of teen thieves known as the Bling Ring robbed the homes of countless celebrities, including Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, Orlando Bloom and Megan Fox.
The group is estimated to have stolen roughly three million dollars in cash and belongings. However, the Bling Ring has gone on to acquire great notoriety, even inspiring two films based on their exploits.
So, obviously, Kardashian’s robbers weren’t the first to carry out an armed mission against the wealth of celebrities.
But, of course, Twitter has been making plenty of judgements on the matter, aside from just the doubts. Many tweeters have been arguing if Kardashian didn’t “flaunt her wealth” so often, then her robbery would have never happened.
You know, like how apparently a woman deserves to be sexually assaulted for wearing a skirt or a man in a Chicago Cubs jersey deserves to be attacked by a St. Louis Cardinals fan. This is a mirror being held in front of our victim-blaming society.
afaulds@indiana.edu
