Kendall Jenner wrongfully accused of appropriating Latinx culture

Kendall Jenner’s launch of her tequila brand has sparked backlash among some people from the Latinx community, but when other celebrities have done the same thing they never decided to speak out about it until now.

By Megan Reyes, Staff Writer

The rise of controversy with Kendall Jenner’s tequila brand has left people baffled yet many celebrities have launched their own brand of alcohol with no criticism of the sort.

The 25-year-old supermodel took to Instagram on Tuesday, February 17 to launch her tequila brand called “818 Tequila”. In her post she has stated that it took four years in the making. Many of her friends and family were happy and showed support of her launch, but some fans weren’t too thrilled with the name and the fact that she created a tequila brand without accrediting Mexican workers.

An enraged Twitter user posted a thread of tweets calling out Jenner for what she perceives to be an attempt of Jenner discrediting Latinx culture and how she does not represent the 818 even though Calabasas is a part of that area code.

“Kendall Jenner starting a tequila brand, with zero knowledge on Mexican culture and calling it ‘818’ tequila’ is GENTRIFICATION,” said health justice advocate Jennie Molina. “The 818 does not claim Calabasas. What about those smaller, family owned Mexican tequila/mezcal brands? They deserve the hype and support.”

Although Jenner is not a Mexican-American, the backlash that she faces from this is ridiculous because other non-hispanic celebrities have created their own alcohol brands and have not been attacked for it.

According to US Magazine, celebrities such as Dwanye Johnson, Nick Jonas, Rita Ora, George Clooney and many others have created their own tequila/alcohol brands.

The reason for the disapproval may be because her family members have also found themselves in the middle of other cultural appropriation controversies.

For example, her sister Kim Kardashian has also faced backlash regarding the original name for her shapewear brand which was called “Kimono” which appropriates Japanese culture and she later changed her line to “Skims” instead. Another example is Jenner’s family members who were accused of appropriating black culture for wearing cornrows.

Jenner’s infamous 2017 Pepsi commercial that rubbed people the wrong way and conveyed a message to some people which found it very offensive. Many people found that commercial very offensive because of the resemblance of this photo of Ieshia Evans in a Black Lives Matter protest.

Although many individuals thought the Pepsi commercial was offensive, some people thought that Jenner was trying to raise awareness and promote peace through the ad, but people decided to find the fault in her actions instead.

People are so upset with her tequila and are just being overly sensitive due to the fact that she may enjoy drinking tequila and got inspired to make her own brand without any malicious intentions of appropriating Mexican culture.

At the end of the day, it is up to the consumer whether or not they want to purchase from small family owned Mexican distilleries or from celebrities such as Kendall Jenner who have launched their own brand.