Kim, there’s people that are dying!
On Saturday, Nov. 8, the Kardashian family’s famous matriarch Kris Jenner celebrated her 70th birthday with an over-the-top, star-studded bash. Everyone who’s anyone seemed to be in attendance—including a handful of Black Hollywood’s biggest names.
Truly, everybody and their mama pulled up: singer Babyface, boxing champion Sugar Ray Leonard, Stevie Wonder, Tyler Perry, Oprah Winfrey and her bestie Gayle King, Mariah Carey, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry, Alicia Keys, Beyoncé, Tina Knowles, Kelly Rowland, and even Chris Rock were spotted among the glittering crowd.
Other notables included Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, the Hiltons, the Hilfigers, and the list goes on—like the background check to be a server at this bash must have been crazy.
As more footage and details from the bash surface—including the blindingly starry guest list—the event has been met with a mix of awe, side-eyes, and straight-up criticism, with commentary coming from everywhere, even across the pond at Buckingham Palace.
The lavish affair was reportedly hosted by Jeff Bezos—the world’s third-richest man—at the historic Jack Warner estate, which he purchased back in 2020 for a staggering $165 million. Guests sipped martinis while Bruno Mars crooned, and the mansion itself was bathed in crimson light, with floor-to-ceiling red drapes and cigarette girls dressed head-to-toe in scarlet to match the night’s James Bond-inspired theme: “Kris 0070.” All this, of course, while millions of Americans continue to face a SNAP freeze and job losses tied to the ongoing government shutdown.
It’s also not lost on the public that this is the same family who, in 2020, absconded to a private island for Kim’s 40th birthday—during the height of a global pandemic—then told the rest of us “normal people” about it while we were rationing toilet paper and praying our stimulus checks would clear. So naturally, seeing some of their favorite Black celebs mingling with the Kardashians feels … jarring. For some, it is even understandably soul-crushing.
Still, the truth is that figures like Perry can donate millions to those cut off from SNAP and still sip a martini in a tux next to Beyoncé in the same week. Rich people are gonna rich—and they’re gonna do it together.
And as the Kardashians themselves once said, “There are people that are dying.” So is it really more productive to rage-tweet about a famous, wealthy matriarch throwing herself a massive birthday party than it is to confront the systems that make this level of excess possible? Who’s to say?
Anyways, in an Instagram post sharing several photos from the bash, Jenner said she had a “Magical night celebrating my 70th birthday with beautiful family and friends.”
