Kendall Jenner has been mocked by Black Lives Matter protesters in the wake of George Floyd’s tragic death. The model starred in an infamous 2017 Super Bowl Pepsi commercial — which was later revoked — in which she leaves a photoshoot to take part in a protest, ultimately offering a police officer a Pepsi as a peace offering. The ad was widely criticized for its tone-deaf message and gross oversimplification of activism.
During protests in Los Angeles on June 2, popular Instagram comedian Everett Byram parodied the video — which you can see here. He approaches a line of cops and hands an LAPD officer a can of soda. “Hey, you guys, like a Kardashian over here,” he says in the clip. “Hey, look, it’s a Pepsi, you want a Pepsi? Have it! Have a Pepsi, dude!” After the cop declines his offer, Everett quips, “But it helped in the commercial.” The cop responds, “I don’t drink soda.”
The comedian hilariously captioned the clip, “kardashian thing didn’t work.” It comes amid nationwide protests and outcry after George was killed by white police officer, Derek Chauvin, during an arrest on May 25. Chauvin held his knee into George’s neck for more than eight minutes, despite George yelling out, “I can’t breathe.” Chauvin was charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.
On June 1, Kendall broke her silence, writing on Instagram, “To everyone reading this and to myself: Keep researching, reading and educating yourself on how we can become better allies,” she wrote. “I’ve been doing a lot of thinking these past few days and my heart has been so heavy. I’m angry and hurt just like so many. I will never personally understand the fear and pain that the black community go through on a daily basis, but I know that nobody should have to live in constant fear.”
The KarJenner sis continued by revealing how she plans to do better when it comes to issues of race in the future. “I acknowledge my white privilege and promise I will continue to educate myself on how I can help,” Kendall added. “Raging on platforms can not be all that we do in order to repair the system. We need to take real action, off social media. This is a time to have those uncomfortable conversations with people and mainly with ourselves.”