NPR Listeners Lose It After Kim Kardashian Interview
Kim Kardashian has never been a favorite among the intellectual elite, but the reaction of NPR listeners to her appearance on the station's popular quiz show "Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me!" is on another level of snobbery.
The reality mogul was a guest on the show, which regularly welcomes celebrities to its airwaves, and talked about baby names, fame and variety of topics. The audience, however, wasn't having it and the backlash was immediate and fierce.
Listeners threatened to cancel their memberships to the public radio network, with one listener writing, “I recently gave a small gift to my local NPR station. Had I heard your Saturday show before I made my gift, I wouldn't have donated. The Kardashians represent much of what is wrong with America today — and I listen to NPR to get AWAY from Kardashian-like garbage."
NPR’s website published an article from its official ombudsman, Elizabeth Jensen, on Wednesday, in response to the outrage. Noting that her inbox was “overflowing” with hate mail over the interview, Jensen called the show “an equal opportunity offender.”
Though she appeared to defend Kardashian's appearance, Jensen's statement was basically a backhanded compliment to the reality star.
“Many listeners seem willing to laugh until the comedy is turned on something that touches their own lives or sensitivities,” she wrote. “I'm still not sure what to make of this week's outrage over Kardashian, who was indeed a surprising guest, given how often the show has pilloried her and her clan in the past. She wasn't a great guest — she had a couple funny lines — but she was gracious.”
Hopefully NPR didn't damage too many of its listeners brain cells with the interview. Watch Kim K. respond to her haters in the video below:
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