Kim Kardashian is often criticised for her fame, but she excels at controlling the narrative. She knows how to create headlines, transform any situation into must-watch TV, and effectively promote moments on social media. However, despite her glamorous lifestyle and lucrative brand deals, she has faced a series of controversies, some of which are more questionable than others. A few of these controversies refuse to fade into the past, despite her efforts.
The Taylor Swift feud still hangs over everything
Considering the worldwide fame of Taylor Swift, this is one of those controversies that will never die. Back in 2016 Kanye released the song “Famous,” which had some derogatory lyrics about Taylor Swift. Obviously, it became the biggest news right away, because it’s Kanye, it’s Taylor Swift, and we all remember their history. But Kim did not only support Kanye in his decision to release such a song, she tried to prove that Taylor Swift signed off on the lyrics by posting edited snippets of the phonically with her. Of course, a fuller version of that phone call came out later and proved that Kanye and Kim were lying.
What’s super shady about this is that not only was Kim fine with the song lyrics, but that she went further and tried to shape a false narrative around Taylor, knowing how false the claims were. Swifties will never forgive her for that.
Her fight with Kourtney was reality TV at its rawest
Do you recall the intense fight between Kim and Kourtney in season 18 of Keeping Up With the Kardashians? It began as a disagreement over work ethic and escalated into a physical altercation, with Kim and Kourtney literally slapping each other hard. Khloe had to intervene and physically prevent them from causing each other harm.
What that moment showed us is that Kim believes that she’s always the person who works the hardest, and she assumes that everyone else isn’t trying hard enough. Kourtney even said that Kim thinks she’s better than everyone because she works more, but we don’t all have to do things the same way.
She went hard in Kanye’s feud with Drake
As we have seen above, Kim isn’t shy about jumping into a fight when it comes to family. So during Kanye’s feud with Drake, she was happy to jump in and escalate that rap beef into a huge social media moment. She directly tweeted Drake, telling him to never threaten her husband or her family and adding that Kanye paved the way for him. It was dramatic and impossible to ignore— classic Kim.
Defending Jeffree Star did not go over well
Back in 2017 Jefree Star criticised Kim’s makeup swatches yet Kim decided to defend him and say that because of his comments she was learning to do better swatches. It turned into people bringing up Jefree’s racist comments from the past and Kim responded by basically saying that there’s no point in bringing up past mistakes, he apologised, she believes in second chances and just like let him live. That did not go over great online, because minimising racism to smooth over influencer drama is never a great idea.
The Indian food comment was a bad look
This wasn’t exactly the biggest scandal in her career, but the way Kim casually remarked that she finds Indian food disgusting on one of the episodes of KUWTK was kind of shady. What a way to offend so many people at once. People were saying she’s culturally insensitive, and comments like that are rude. Kim did apologize on her blog by saying that she didn’t mean to offend anyone and that her food preferences and dislikes do not reflect her views on Indian people or culture. But it was a classic case of saying something without thinking and then having to course-correct afterwards.
The “Kimono” launch was one of her most avoidable controversies
We all saw it coming when Kim announced her shape wear and wanted to call in Kimono. It’s hard to believe she was unaware of the traditional Japanese garment or that someone on her team or in her family didn’t tell her it was a bad idea. It seems like she just believed her name would somehow overshadow basic cultural common sense.
The backlash was immediate; you cannot erase centuries of culture and transform it into a lingerie brand. As a result, Kim had to backtrack and rebrand everything as Skims, which cost her a significant amount of money, but that is the consequence of not thinking ahead and relying solely on confidence.
The Amber Rose selfie was peak Kardashian strategy
This was a classic Kim move. Kanye West and Wiz Khalifa were feuding on X (former Twitter). Amber Rose jumped in to defend Wiz, and hit back at Kanye who was her ex. And then suddenly out of nowhere Kim and Amber take a photo together. And Kim captioned it with “tea anyone?”. It didn’t feel random or accidental at all. It felt like a calculated move to end this feud on their terms.
The Ray J tape saga remains messy and disputed
You might think that the story of Kim Kardashian’s leaked sex tape is in the past, but it is in fact still ongoing. To refresh your memory, the story starts in 2007, the tape involving Kim and Ray J is released publicly by Vivid Entertainment. Kim sues Vivid Entertainment and they manage to settle the case. Later on, Ray J claimed the video was not leaked in a sense that most people imagine and was actually an orchestrated move by Kim Kardashian and Kris Jenner. The Kardashians deny those allegations.
But the timing of all this is kind of shady because this happened just as the Kardashians were getting famous and their show KUWTK premiered later that same year, which caused speculation about whether the leak was accidental or tied to publicity. The wild thing is that Kim revived this story on KUWTK back in 2022, saying she was worried additional footage might be released. The legal battle is still ongoing, and as recently as March 2026, Kim and Kris have filed sworn declarations denying Ray J’s accusations that they orchestrated the release.
Kim’s shadiest trait might just be how good she is at surviving all of it
What’s incredible is how Kim seems to persevere despite all these controversies. Her public image seems to be built on provocation, she gets dragged sometimes or even mocked, but eventually she still comes out on top with some sort of business venture. She’s either very resilient or she’s a master of playing the game.
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