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Kim Kardashian Thinks Nobody Wants to Work Anymore

When life sucks, count on elites to toss another log onto the fire of discontent. Recently, it was culture queen Kim Kardhasian who earned a spot on the “let them eat cake” list of worst things ever said. 

“Get your fucking ass up and work. It seems like nobody wants to work anymore,” she was quoted in Variety Magazine. It’s nothing we’re not used to, but usually people who like Rick & Morty aren’t this eager to parrot the opinions of their Dr. Laura Schlesinger era parents. And for me, this one hurt. 

Over the years, Kim K has shown up here and there for important causes. She met with President Donald Trump to pass the First Step Act that would circumvent mandatory minimum sentences. She used her Twitter to mention climate change during the Australian wildfires in 2020. Some have even called her an activist for standing up against slut shaming. Unfortunately, her poor-shaming tirade could undo some of that.

To be clear, at a time when two thirds of the U.S. live paycheck to paycheck, people want to work. In fact, they were never more desperate for work. Since health insurance is tied to employment, and two thirds of all bankruptcies are caused by healthcare debt, “wanting” to work is irrelevant – we’ll die if we don’t. It’s in these merit-based dictums that arguments like Kim K’s fail. Why? Because the truth is that most people – low-incomers included – work really fucking hard.

Take K-12 teachers for example, where the average workday is between 12-16 hours. The reward for the dark bags under their eyes? An average annual salary of under $50,000. It’s my favorite example because every single one of us knows the towering difficulty of babysitting even one kid, let alone getting 30 of them ready for a standardized test. So when Kim says, “nobody wants to work anymore,” is she talking about the 3.2 million K-12 teachers in the U.S.?

Which ones? I’d love to know. Seriously.

Data from the U.S. Census Bureau shows that women are more likely than men to hold multiple jobs, and the number of them doing so has steadily increased over the last 20 years. And the biggest demographic in the multiple job holder pool? Healthcare workers, most of whom are experiencing the worst rates of burnout in recent history. Does “nobody wants to work anymore” apply to them, Kim?

If a day comes when celebrities show off the laurels of their labor without taking a huge dump on the rest of us, pinch me.

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