An avalanche of criticism later, and the sisters have apologised
By: Elena Rue Morgue
Instagram image credit:Kendall + Kylie.
Last week we talked about the new collection of, ahem, ‘vintage’ t-shirts from Kendall and Kylie Jenner. Among other comments, we said we weren’t sure if this was a deviously provocative stroke of genius from the sisters, or if they were simply a little slow on the uptake, have no criteria and were unwittingly getting themselves into trouble.
So, today, we can confirm that it was, indeed, option B.
The Jenner t-shirts, which essentially consisted of their faces superimposed on t-shirts of singers and bands like Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Black Sabbath, Tupac, and Notorious Big, to mention but a handful, caused quite a stir on the social networks. Playing it safe, they decided to stay schtum on the subject.
Predictably, matters got a bit out of hand, and even Notorious BIG’s mum, Voletta Wallace, got in on the Instagram action telling Kendall and Kylie they had no kind of permission to use her son’s name or image on the t-shirts.
Julian K Petty, the lawyer for Notorious BIG’s estate, publicly stated that if the t-shirts were not removed from the website by five o’clock on Friday afternoon, he would take legal action. ‘I’m curious to hear the justification. I’m even more curious to hear the proposed resolution,’ he told TMZ.
Sharon Osbourne, the wife of Black Sabbath singer, Ozzy Osbourne, also dedicated a tweet to the sisters:
Kylie and Kendall have now shared an identical message of apology on their respective Twitter accounts: ‘These designs were not well thought out and we deeply apologize to anyone that has been upset and/or offended, especially to the families of the artists. We are huge fans of their music and it was not our intention to disrespect these cultural icons in any way.’
They went on to say that the t-shirts were no longer for sale and the images had been withdrawn. ‘We will use this as an opportunity to learn from these mistakes and again, we are very sorry.’