Jenna Bush Hager, 41, is blasting “fake” filters on social media that she thinks are turning “everybody into a Kardashian.” The TODAY show host was having a conversation with her co-anchor Hoda Kotb and friend Michelle Collins on the controversial topic, saying that she didn’t think people should be “yassifying for anonymity” — referring to a current social media trend. “Y’all, are we turning everybody into a Kardashian?” Jenna said on Friday, April 14, then asking if “looking “cartoon” was “the point” of them.
The Kardashian-Jenner clan — namely Kim Kardashian, Khloe Kardashian, Kourtney Kardashian, and younger sisters Kendall Jenner and Kylie Jenner — have all built impressive social media followings using plenty of filters on their stories (a trend that originated on Snapchat). The family have also been blamed for promoting unattainable beauty standards when it comes to their costly fitness and beauty regimes, which are not procedures that many of their fans would have financial means for.
Michelle then said photos can be “yassified”, and showed examples of stars like Shakira with altered features thanks to the filters.
Jenna then added that “everybody looks like a Bratz doll” — a reference to the popular children and tweens doll brand created by Isaac Larian and Carter Bryant. The toys are known for their amped up Y2K fashion looks, big lips, wide eyes and and heavy, club-ready makeup — at times drawing controversy for being a kids toy brand.
Hoda wasn’t thrilled with how she looked with her filter, saying that she and Jenna looked “phony” on-air. “Oh boy. No, no, no…We look so fake,” the longtime anchor declared.
Last year, the Kardashians joined a social media trend as they urged Instagram to become “Instagram again” — and not copy TikTok. Kim and Kylie both shared links to a petition among the movement, which was focused on making Instagram more focused on still photos again versus videos. “We have TikTok for a reason, and let’s face it, the only [Instagram] reels uploaded are recycled TikToks and content that the world has already seen,” the general message, shared by the sisters, said.