Kim Kardashian Says Her Controversial Comments About Hard Work Were “Taken Out Of Context”

“Get your f*cking ass up and work” was the advice that Kim Kardashian seemingly gave to women in an interview with Variety earlier this month. “It seems like nobody wants to work these days,” the Skims founder said in the clip. “You have to surround yourself with people that want to work. No toxic environments, and show up and do the work.” Kardashian received pushback from fans and celebrities, including Trevor Noah and Jameela Jamil. And during the Oscars on Sunday, March 27, co-hosts Regina Hall and Wanda Sykes teased Dame Judi Dench by playing the soundbite back and suggesting that she needs to work harder at 87 years old.

Since it’s been several weeks and the interview is still haunting the 41-year-old reality star, she decided to clarify her comments in a March 28 interview on Good Morning America. “That statement that I said was without questions and conversation around it, and it became a soundbite really with no context,” she told host Robin Roberts. “In that soundbite, I came off of the notion in the question right before, which was, ‘After 20 years of being in the business, you’re famous for being famous.’ And my whole tone and attitude changed with the previous question that went into that question about, ‘What advice would you give to women?’”

In hindsight, Kardashian said that she would’ve made it more clear that she was speaking specifically about how a reality TV show and a social media presence do not automatically translate to “overnight success.” “You really have to work hard to get there,” she said, “even if it might seem like it’s easy and that you can build a really successful business off of social media.” It’s possible, of course. Kardashian herself has nearly 300 million Instagram followers, many successful business ventures, and a Hulu reality series called The Kardashians, which will air on Hulu on April 14. But she had to “put in a lot of hard work” to get to this point.

Kardashian also told Roberts that her advice was not meant to be a “blanket statement toward women” and she didn’t intend for it to come off as if she doesn’t “respect the work” that other women are doing. On the contrary, the Keeping Up With the Kardashians star said that she’s very aware that women are working hard in their respective fields and that her words were “taken out of context.” She closed out her statement by issuing an apology to those who may have misconstrued her words. “I’m really sorry if it was received that way,” she said.

Unfortunately, it was received that way by many people. On the March 10 episode of The Daily Show, for example, Noah said that Kardashian’s comments were “extremely condescending.” “Yes, Kim Kardashian works hard,” he said. “But do you know who else works hard? Most women. But what their ‘asses’ don’t have is Kim’s luck to be born into a rich family ... and all the access and connections that brings you.” Jamil, for her part, tweeted on March 9 that “nobody needs to hear” Kardashian’s thoughts on work ethic — especially since she came from “the mean streets of Beverly Hills with very successful parents/step-parents.”