Disabled Community Voices Offense Over Kylie Jenner Wheelchair Photos

By SheSpeaksTeam Dec 06, 2015

We are used to seeing models and celebs try on some pretty wacky stuff in the name of fashion, but Kylie Jenner’s latest spread in Interview Magazine has many people offended over the celeb being featured in a wheelchair. Many people within the disabled community argue that it is in poor taste to have an able-bodied model in a wheelchair, especially when there are disabled models who are available and rarely receive work in the fashion industry.

Fox News reports about the negative attention Jenner’s Interview Magazine photos have received and the subsequent response from the magazine. The magazine’s officials are quoted from E! News standing by the photos of Jenner in a wheelchair saying, “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 Kylie Jenner cover by Steven Klein, which references the British artist Allen Jones, is a part of this tradition.”

But people like Chelsey Jay who is the director of a campaign calling for more diversity within the modeling industry, Disability for Models of Diversity, doesn’t think the magazine should be excused for being ‘artistic’. She feels that Interview Magazine failed here saying, “It's very bad taste that it's deemed 'artistic' to place a celebrity figure in the position of a disabled person in an editorial sense. However in reality, the fashion industry shuns actual models who in real life, depend on these mobility aids, yet are excluded for this exact reason.”

Jessica Jewett, a member of the disabled community and wheelchair dependent herself, also found the spread offensive. She explains, “Kylie posing in a wheelchair when she doesn't actually need a wheelchair is harmful to the disabled community on two levels. It's making light of extremely difficult lives often lived below the poverty level, and also it's taking away jobs in the media from actual disabled models and actors. This is a huge problem in show business today. While you might see more people in wheelchairs on television, movies, or magazines, most of those people are actually actors pretending to have disabilities.”

What do you think of Jenner’s photos taken in a wheelchair for Interview Magazine?

Do you think the magazine owes the disabled community an apology or is it fine when it’s in the name of art?

Make a Comment

Comments

by Jennyfr | FOND DU LAC, WI

Feb 17, 2016

Totally in bad taste! I agree that the disabled community has very many beautiful people who would have loved to model for pictures. Plus besides the fact that this is horrible, it is even worse the way she is dressed! Platform or spiked heels and barely any clothes and look "goth"? No only does this magazine owe a huge apology, so does Jenner! She should give all the money she received for this to help the disabled!

by leximaxine | Eugene, OR

Jan 26, 2016

Kylie Jenner is just an all-around offensive human being. She walks around in brownface, culturally appropriates P.O.C. things constantly & is just generally insensitive. It makes me thoroughly repulsed that she would take part in such a horrible ad. Such poor taste. Disability is not a fashion statement for the able bodied/minded!

by Rockella | HOLLYWOOD, MD

Jan 24, 2016

Tasteless...this Kylie person does not need the money, job or chance to get the job. There are too many disabled people out here in the world who would jumped at the chance to do that photo shoot and receive the money for the job. For her to pose as disabled is a great in justice...

by beccamb | STRAFFORD, NH

Jan 08, 2016

Since when is a photo of a woman the media crams down our throats "art"? That is not art - it's publicity for people who have no worth other than entertaining people by dressing up as a hooker in a wheelchair. I can see her publicist is clearly running out of creative ideas. Boo. Hiss. How about a pic of Stephen Hawking and an interview?

by harlgal | JACKSONVILLE, IL

Jan 08, 2016

Classless, tasteless, downright rude. I truly hate to say this but in its time KARMA will find its way to the kardashians so they will possibly be forced to know true hardship, pain & suffering of a physical ailment that they cannot buy their way out of. Maybe then they can reflect on the ridiculous actions stupid drama and outrageous amounts of money they waste on ridiculous things! Things that don't matter.

by brandifnbabyy22 | S CHESTERFLD, VA

Jan 05, 2016

My father was disabled and had to use a wheelchair to get around. With that being said, I feel this is in such bad taste. I don't even know what the photographer was going for here. I do believe it possibly offend people with disabilities, as they would do anything to not have to rely on wheelchairs.

by CrystalRuiz | Cadereyta de Montes, OU

Jan 03, 2016

I think this is a beautiful editorial picture, however, due to the fact that a disability is not something to be taken lightly, I believe the photographer, the magazine, and she should have thought of the concequences of such picture. Kyley is a beautiful girl, in this picture they used tape to give her a mannequin appearance.

by chenili | GLENDALE, AZ

Dec 08, 2015

She looks like an Allen Jones mannequin sculpture, but there was really no need for the wheelchair. It's pretty altogether classless, to me.

by candries | Carthage, TX

Dec 07, 2015

Very Tacky! Another plea for attention.

by ShaelaNeal | Wyandotte, OK

Dec 07, 2015

It is definitely bad taste and I dont see what purpose they were trying for besides disrespectful

by TM2020 | Winthrop, MA

Dec 07, 2015

This is disgusting. As a parent of a disabled child, I think there are certain topics where you should just draw the line. I also strongly dislike Kylie Jenner, and even stopped using Estee Lauder after she started modeling for the company. The whole family is just a big turn off,