Critics of Kourtney Kardashian are calling her out for her “performative activism.” It all started when she recently joined a group of community members protesting against plans to dump debris from the Palisades Fire at the landfill in Calabasas, California. People at the Calabasas landfill protest held signs with statements like “Calabasas Is Not an Ashtray” and “No Fire Waste in Residential Communities.”
Kourtney took to Instagram to explain why she decided to push back against the plan, but critics accused her of only caring because it affects her.
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Kourtney wrote that Calabasas ‘is not a place where toxic and harmful ash should be dumped right next to schools and parks.’
Some of her followers, however, wondered what kind of place is “a place where toxic and harmful ash should be dumped.” They assumed she meant it would be OK to dump debris in a “poorer neighborhood.”
“So dump it in a poorer neighborhood?” one person commented on the post.
“Just say y’all want them to dump it where poor people live instead,” another person wrote.
Kourtney’s activism also garnered a lot of backlash on Reddit. One Redditor wrote, “Would love to ask them where they SHOULD put the fire waste. I would put my last cent that she would name a low income, poor neighborhood.”
Other people called Kourtney out for only speaking up when it affects her community.
To many others, Kourtney’s involvement in the protest felt “performative.” Multiple people accused the Kardashians star of only caring about issues that affect her personally.
“Kourtney, love you but you only speak up when it’s your neighborhood,” one fan pointed out. “If only you would do this for more issues aside from what only affects you,” a second Instagram user commented.
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Kourtney praised her community for caring about the environment.
The plans to dump wildfire debris in the Calabasas landfill is “mind-blowing” to Kourtney because her community normally prioritizes eco-friendly initiatives. “Calabasas has always cared about the environment and the health and happiness of its citizens, with its no smoking rule, plastic bag ban, plastic straw ban and bright sky ordinance (no light pollution so we can see the stars),” Kourtney wrote on Instagram.
For these reasons, she cannot understand why “government officials would actively decide to put hazardous, dangerous and severely unhealthy materials in the heart of a healthy, thriving community that strives to be thoughtful and proactive.”
In the comments, though, several fans criticized Kourtney for contributing to the problem.
“Girl … how much water do you you use to fill your pools and keep your grass clean?” one person wrote. “You literally are the problem.”
“‘Calabasas has cared about the environment’ girl you literally overwatered the most during the drought,” another person commented. “Get real.”
One critic called her ‘Queen NIMBY.’
Many critics were confused, wondering where Kourtney thinks the debris should go.
“Am I the only person who finds this cringy?” one person wrote on Reddit. “Like, what’s a better place? Anywhere but here?”
Kourtney told CBS News that “toxic chemicals and ash do not belong in a community where there’s kids and families — and people work here.” In terms of where they do belong, Kourtney told the news outlet that “we would love it to go, where, to the middle of nowhere — where it’s not around any families or children.”
In spite of the backlash, some people defended Kourtney, assuming that she had good intentions.
“Let’s remember to keep things positive Kourtney never said she wanted waste to be dumped in a poor neighborhood,” one fan wrote on Instagram. “She’s advocating for sustainability and a safer environment for not only her and her family but everyone else’s (within) the community.”
